Dance of the Cherry Blossoms
by Tensukishi
Summary: The light breeze blew gently in the morning light. It was the Hanami season, and the couple were lucky enough to find a spot in the garden, under the keep of the picturesque Nagoya castle. The two of them sat beside each other, holding hands, while admiring the pink-white blossoms blooming in the faint spring sun. The sight was gorgeous, but beautiful things don't last do they?
1. Chapter 1

The slight cool breeze flew into the room, making the light cerulean curtains dance. A happy, nonchalant dance, their hems swaying from right to left. I felt the warm morning light falling onto my face, caressing it.

"_Ogenkidei, Okaa-sannn!" _

Wait, wasn't that Rin? Wait, oh yeah, we're going to school together. I shifted in my bed, bewildered, reaching out lazily with my right hand and with the right amount of half-hearted fumbling, grabbed onto my phone on the side table. I forced my weary eyes a slit open and looked at the time. It was already eight….WHAT. The relentless fog of exhaustion suddenly lifted right off my brain by sheer shock and panic, I threw my blanket off and leaped out of bed. I sprinted across the room, but my foot slipped on the blanket and I crashed unceremoniously onto the ground, toppling the small bookshelf beside my desk in the process. Great, just great, what the perfect way to start the year, nothing gets better than running late and stumbling around like a one-legged bear. As, I got up and started hurriedly rearranging the spilled contents of the shelf; books, stationery, pieces of paper scribbled with notes from third-year in middle school…the door to my room opened, and there was my mother, clad in a blouse and long pants, standing in the wooden doorway. A clean, crisp green apron, tied at the back, covered her front, and her blonde hair was clipped up towards her right ear. Her ocean blue eyes, partly hidden behind the huge stack of folded clothes she was carrying, widened with surprise.

"Oh, aren't you supposed to be in school already?" she asked, "I thought you left with Rin-chan"

"Well I guess, I woke up late…" I replied, flailing and stumbling not quite that graciously to pick up the guitar music sheets strewn all over the floor.

Oh yeah, now I remember, the previous night I was up until around two practicing songs on my guitar. That's why I woke up late this morning. Hmm, in hindsight, guess I should have expected that.

"You should be more disciplined next time," she sighed "Oh I ironed your blazer just now earlier on, you can get it downstairs in the laundry room." She continued, and closed the door.

I ran off into the bathroom to take a shower, but it was less of a shower and more of dashing past a jet of water in interests of time constraints. Rin always complains that I take a longer time than her to get ready for school, and she always ends up waiting for me, back in middle school. But maybe today she just ran out of patience and went off by herself. Afterwards, I hastily slipped on my attire and almost slid down the stairs in my rush towards the dining room. I grabbed the toast on the plate and stuffed it into my mouth, eating it, no it was more like inhaling it, as I clambered to the laundry room to put on my blazer. When my tired legs brought me there, I dumped my jersey and shorts into the open washing machine, and went to peck my mother on the cheek, just like any other morning. Oh wait, my guitar! I strapped the large casing with the guitar inside to my back, and opened the front door.

"I'll be going now!" I said, and waved to her from the door.

"Yeah, be careful!" she replied, turning around, tilting her head from the kitchen, while washing dishes.

I mounted onto my bicycle and cycled as fast as I could towards school , zipping past the Kamuis's not-at-all-humble abode, with its comparatively larger lawn and a koi pond. Our neighbour in question, Kamui Gakupo was by the pond feeding the fish, while his wife, Luka, was watering the bushes of azalea which are just beginning to flower in the early blessing the soft winds of spring bring.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Kamui-san!" I greeted them, waving with one hand while the other still holding on to the handle of the bike.

Mr and Mrs Kamui looked up from what they were doing and returned my smile. Husband and wife had been our neighbours since I was like… around six I guess? Well when we were still in elementary school, they would look after Rin and I when we came back home from school since Mom and Dad would be working and they usually come back in the evening at around eight. They would dote on us as if we were their own children, and Mrs Kamui would cook for us. The couple never had any children ever since I was 6, maybe that's why they love children very much and would shower them with care and passion whenever they get the chance. I never asked them the reason for that though, on fear of being insensitive. Usually, when Rin and I go to their house after elementary school, Mr Kamui would help us with our homework while Mrs Kamui would prepare some food. Well I remember her favourite dish to cook was always takoyaki, since it was quite easy to make, she claimed, but as easy as she made it seem, none of us could make it as tasty as she did. Sometimes either of us would praise her cooking, sometimes calling it as good as a restaurant's but to this she would laugh it off and say that her cooking isn't that great. Ah, sweet memories...

Anyway, today is my first day of high school, and I'm already late. Well, I decided to bring my guitar along just in case there's like club selection or auditions today. The letter from the school to my parents stated that there will be an orientation held for first years today, and I don't think much is going to happen, so maybe bringing my guitar long wouldn't be that bad. I cycled past some major junctions, bends and parks, the school was quite some distance from home, Rin told me. Maybe I should have slept earlier after all. I cycled past some houses when suddenly a girl opened the gate outwards, and the next thing I knew, my bicycle was on the floor and I grazed my cheek against the hard cemented pavement. Maybe it bled a little, it should have I guessed, nothing else can explain the burning sensation I felt on my cheek. My bag fell from the basket at the front of the bike, but other than that, nothing got broken or anything. I picked up my bag and bicycle, with my guitar case still strapped onto my back, and straightened out my blazer, when…

"Ah! I'm really sorry… Are you okay?"

I looked up to see where the soft voice came from, and saw a girl, a bit taller than me, with hair nearly exactly like Rin's, except that it was emerald green and she didn't tie it with a ribbon. She was wearing the female equivalent of my new school uniform, a slightly slimmer crimson blazer, a tartan skirt and a tie, tucked behind her blazer. Her concerned eyes were scanning me, and as soon as her gaze settled on my uniform, and saw that my blazer matched hers, her already-bright green eyes filled with sparks of happiness, and somewhat, relief. She let out a deep sigh.

"You're from the same school as me? What a relief to know I'm not the only one late. My name is Gumi Megpoid, nice meeting you! " the green-haired girl said cheerfully, extending her hand to me.

"Er… Kagamine Len. Yeah, nice meeting you too I guess?" I took her hand and shook it.

"Oh, what year are you in? I'm in the first year and today's orientation and I'm late and the worst thing is, my phone ran out of battery, and I can't find the school on the GPS. You know the way right?" she said light-heartedly, chuckling at her own statements.

I can't take it in on how she could just be so relaxed and nonchalant when I'm all tense and my feet were already getting slightly fatigued from all that intense cycling.

"Yeah, I do. I'm in the first year too. Orientation today, huh?." I said awkwardly, between curt, short breaths, searching for words to say.

"Yeah…" she replied, looking towards the ground, her hands behind her back.

There were a few seconds of awkward silence between the both of us, and only then I realised the current situation. I checked my watch on my wrist, and apparently we're already half an hour late. School starts at eight-thirty, and it's already a few minutes past nine now. I should probably be making a move now, but I guess it's not the right thing to do to leave a lost girl lagging behind, being hours late for school, or even worse, probably never going to make it to school at all, getting lost in the winding streets and alleys of the densely-populated Nagoya.

"Um, why don't you get on the back of my bike and I cycle you to school together. It'll take more time if you walk, you know." I said awkwardly, my face beginning to flush.

The next thing I know she was already hitchhiking at the back of my bike, both her hands on my shoulders, to support her weight while her feet were on the hinge of the back wheel. She thanked me excitedly, stating that she might have started walking in the direction in which I was coming from hadn't I ran into her and picked her up. I cycled as fast as I could to school, and luckily Gumi was quite light, and didn't really affect my cycling speed, as a matter of fact, I was worried at first that she might get scared, but she even insisted that I cycle faster. And at some moments, she even let go of my shoulders, and stood there behind me, without any support, her shoulder-length jade hair fluttering in the wind. After a while, she sat down, claiming she was tired of standing. She then went on non-stop about how she pulled up an all-nighter yesterday reading physics books because she was too terrified to sleep after watching horror movies earlier on. Okay, she talks a lot, even we've just met. The outgoing type, I guess.

She fell silent after a good deal of time, probably because I wasn't a really good conversation partner to begin with. I turned around the corner, and passed through a large garden. It was spring now, and the sakura blossoms were in full bloom. The soft wind blew the light pink petals into our faces, if not for us being late, I would have stopped and appreciated the serene sight of the petals falling onto the ashpalt path. But there was no time for that. The garden was decorated traditionally, with stone lanterns and azaleas. The sweet smell of grass wafted through the air. In the middle of the garden, there was a large koi pond, and a wooden pavilion, with its distinctive pointed roof built in the traditional style, stood on its banks.

"Can you stop for a while?" she suddenly broke the silence.

"Uhh… Why? We're already running late!" I said to her, half-irritated.

"Please?" she pleaded.

I sighed, and decided to stop. I hope it's because of something important or something. As soon as I clenched the brakes in my fists, she hopped off the bike with a little skip, and ran towards the trees beside the pond. I had no choice but to leave my bike and bag beside the pond, leaning against a white-barked, ancient ginko tree and chased after her. She stopped beside three large cherry trees, and pointed to something, squealing. I averted my gaze to where her outstretched arm was pointing towards. Something was hiding behind the trunk of one of the cherry blossom trees. Suddenly, a small black cat peeked from behind the dark ebony trunk with large, pitiful eyes.

"Aaah! It's so cute!" she came running towards the feline giggling with excitement, her hands outstretched, as if she wanted to pick it up and cuddle it.

The cat was startled, meowing loudly and started to scurry away as fast as its four little legs could carry it. Gumi chased the terrified little cat around the pond, desperately trying to scoop up the cat, but it was too fast and agile for her. She lunged with her hands outstretched to catch the cat, which was hiding in a thicket of reeds, and…

She fell, no, more like _threw _herself into the clear, thigh-deep water, not at all gracefully. I ran up and caught up with her, standing at the side of the pond, the soft grass sinking beneath my feet.

"Hey! Are you okay?" I asked, worried.

She was there in the water, her clothes all soaked wet, and getting up slowly, looked at me. I extended my arm to help her up. She didn't move an inch, which made me retract my arm and put it back down to my side. Maybe she doesn't need help getting up and I'm probably scaring her. I'm just more or less a stranger to her after all, we've just met. I turned around, and began to walk away.

"Well then, we should be going now, we're already forty-five minutes la-"

The cold touch of her hand stopped me. Her hand, dripping with icy water, made contact with mine. I turned around but before I had the chance to say anything, she pulled my hand with such force, I re-enacted her predicament, falling face first into the thigh-deep water. The loud splash I made scared away the nearby fishes and they swam away in frenzied schools, their streamlined bodies squirming and pushing through the water, to get away from the violent disturbance. I tried to stand up slowly, but my heavy waterlogged clothes weighed like a ton. It was freezing cold, yet I did not notice the frost biting into my wet skin due to the sheer shock and surprise of what just hit me. I pushed myself back up to my feet, attempting to stand up. All of a sudden, my soaked shoe slipped against the mossy pond floor, and I fell into the freezing bone-biting water again.

I looked up and saw Gumi, standing like around a metre from where I was, in her drenched uniform. She saw me glaring menacingly at her, and she began to crack up.

"Oh my gosh. Are you seriously that clumsy?" she said, clutching her stomach with laughter.

I could feel my cheeks getting warmer, and I stood up. I walked up to her, bent down, and slapped the surface of the water hard, causing streams of water to splash on her. She yelped in excitement, and returned the favour by splashing water at me too. Soon enough, we began chasing each other around in that shallow icy pond, oblivious to the world around us. The only thing I could remember was the loud splashing of the water and Gumi's high-pitched excited squeals of laughter, as if she were in hysteria. So there we were, two sixteen year olds, already late on the first day of school, splashing around in a pond in the middle of a park. I couldn't remember how long we were childishly chasing each other, but the next thing I know was for sure.

I heard a rough, deliberate-sounding cough coming from behind us, and the both of us fell silent and turned around. Behind us, a blonde woman, with waist-long hair, about 30-something of age, was standing at the edge of the pond. Her arms were crossed, and anger written itself all over her stern face.

Standing beside her was a teal-haired girl, with her hair tied into two ponytails at her side. She was wearing the same blazer as us, and carrying a blue clipboard in her arms. Then it hit me. We totally forgot about school altogether.


	2. Chapter 2

The blonde woman glared at us, daggers evident in her piercing eyes. Tilting my head awkwardly to avoid her gaze, I found myself staring at the teal-haired girl beside her. Her shiny hair tied into two long twintails, bound together with two matching indigo ribbons at the sides of her head. Her timid eyes were teal, just like her silky hair. She looked like a senior, and she was taller than me, but seemed rather shy.

"You two, come here!" the blonde woman shouted, causing Gumi and I to quicken our stride towards her.

"What are you two doing here? Never mind that, just follow me, I'll bring you to school." She continued, and turned around, the senior trailing behind her.

My heart was in my throat. We're in _deep _trouble. I looked at Gumi, but I couldn't really tell what she was feeling just by looking at her expression. We had no choice but to follow the blonde woman. She walked rather fast, and I could see the senior was struggling to catch up with her. As I passed her, she was already breathing heavily. We've already walked quite a distance when I realised that I've left my bag, guitar and bike behind when I went to chase after Gumi just now.

"Erm…" I murmured, barely opening my lips, but enough for the woman to turn around.

"Ah… I left my bag and bike over there." I said, pointing across the pond to where my bike lay. "Can I go get them?" I continued, gulping.

"Well, okay, sure. I'll go first, along with your friend here, and Hatsune-san will wait for you on this side of the pond. I'll see you in school 'kay?" she said, but this time, her voice had already softened, and her eyes were calmer, which was a relief.

"Thank you, ma'am." I bowed and sprinted around the pond to retrieve my belongings.

I strapped my guitar to my wet back, and dumped my bag into the basket at the front of my bicycle. I looked across the pond, and I saw Hatsune-senpai standing there, looking at her reflection in the water waiting for me, the soft wind blowing her teal hair. I cycled up to her, and the sound of my bicycle gears coming to a halt made her look up.

"Hey, um you can ride behind on my bike if you want, it'll be faster that way… And you look tired anyway so I thought…" I said awkwardly.

"Thank you." She said, smiling slightly, the sunlight reflecting off her neat rows of flawless teeth.

Hatsune-senpai got on behind me, and unlike Gumi, she sat down, putting her entirety of her body weight on the little remainder of the bicycle seat not occupied by me. She was so close… it was _awkward…_ I cycled slowly, because not all girls are as _crazy _as Gumi. The wind started to blow in our direction, and it was really chilly. At this rate, I'm going to catch a cold. What a miserable first day.

After some deal of cycling, I reached the school, at last. The front gate was already closed, signalling that we were late, not like I didn't know anyway. The courtyard was empty and silent, save for the rustling of the _Hinomaru_ and the accompanying prefectural flag on their respective flagpoles. Hatsune-senpai told me to follow her, but she instructed me to park my bicycle first. I parked my bicycle, but then realised in my rush to get to school, I forgot to bring my bicycle lock along with it. I looked behind, but Hatsune-senpai was already walking quite far ahead, so I just left my bike there, leaning against one of the pull-up bars of the nearby exercise corner. I took off, with my guitar constantly bumping onto my back, to catch up with Hatsune-senpai. The sound of my shoes slapping the cobblestones made her turn.

"Wow, you're quite fast." She remarked.

"Err… Thanks?"

That was the only thing that I managed to say. Told you I was a bad conversation partner, especially to strangers. Hatsune-senpai walked into the main school building, opening the glass door, and I followed suit. We entered the hallway, where there were lockers lined up in rows. The lockers were about the size of a small box, and could at most probably fit some books and a pair of track shoes. Each locker also had the name of the student assigned to it pasted on the door. Hatsune-senpai led me to a door at the end of a hallway, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a familiar voice said.

I looked at Hatsune-senpai nervously. On seeing my expression, she replied with a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, Lily-sensei won't bite! She's really nice actually." She said.

I opened the door and entered. In the room, Lily-sensei was sitting at her desk, while Gumi was sitting on one of the two chairs facing her. She was already cleaned up, and wore a dry set of uniform. They were talking, and they seemed to be in the middle of a friendly chat , when I interrupted them. Lily-sensei looked at me as she heard the door open, and invited me to sit down on the empty chair. The room was air-conditioned, and I was already cold enough. Well, this is why you don't go splashing about in ponds in spring.

Lily-sensei excused herself from the room, opened the door, and left the two of us alone in her office.

"Hey, um… Len, I'm really sorry about just now, I couldn't control myself…" She said, in a rather hushed voice.

"It was quite fun actually, I sure enjoyed myself." I said, smiling.

"Well, while you and Hatsune-senpai were lagging behind, Lily-sensei gave me a dry set of uniform, and while we waited for you, I explained everything to her that it was all my fault. She's the discipline mistress around here. Anyway, she told me she received a complaint that some students from our school were creating a nuisance in the park, so she called Hatsune-senpai along and they walked over to the park to investigate. Yeah, and she's really nice, she's only really fierce when she's angry, but it was our fault anyway we were scolded." She continued.

"Wait… but why bring Hatsune-senpai along? Like… Of all people, why her?" I asked, puzzled.

"You dummy, she's the head prefect, and she's also the leader for your orientation group so _of course_ she has to come along." She replied, staring at me as if I was an idiot.

"Anyway, she told us that since it's our first day, she said that she'll close one eye, and let us off this time. After this we're going to go to select our clubs in the hall, and after that Hatsune-senpai would bring us around the school to show us around, since we missed the earlier part of the orientation, it'll be during our break time, I guess."

At that moment, Lily-sensei opened the door, holding a folded set of uniform and a towel to her chest. She was wearing a snow white trench coat, and black boots. Her long blonde hair was of the same shade as mine, and reached chest-height. Her eyes were deep blue, and were looking at me like how a mother would look at her child. Maybe I didn't notice what she looked like since all the while I was looking at Hatsune-senpai. She came over to me, and handed me the bundle of clothes, and sat back down at her desk.

"Well, you'll catch a cold if you continue sticking around in those wet clothes, especially in this kind of cold weather, so why don't you go get cleaned up and change. I recommend you to take a shower, but then that might take up too much time… Anyway, be quick, Gumi and Hatsune-san would be waiting for you." Lily-sensei said. "Well, what are you waiting for? You wouldn't want to keep them waiting." she added jokingly when she saw me still stuck to my seat.

I left the comfortable Discipline Mistress's office into the hallway. Hatsune-senpai was outside, leaning against the wall, looking through her mobile phone. She put her phone away as she saw me.

"So, how was it? Well, now I'll bring you both to the hall so you guys could like take a look through the clubs we have here-" I cut her off

"Errm… Sorry, but… I have to um like um- "My words got caught in my vocal chords, and my heart was beating furiously.

_Calm down, Len, she's not going to bite._ I kept repeating those words in my head but to no avail. She looked at me questioningly, with a puzzled expression written across her face, waiting for me to complete my already-distorted sentence. At that moment the door opened behind me and Gumi walked into the hallway. She reached her hand out and started rustling my damp blonde hair.

"Oh, senpai, what he meant was that he has to go and change first before joining us." She swooped in, while still rustling my hair.

"Oh I see, anyway I'm sorry for the rush just now I haven't introduced myself formally yet. I'm Hatsune Miku, nice meeting you!" she extended her hand to me.

I could feel my cheeks getting warmer. Gumi literally had to push me forward for me to shake her hand. Her hand felt so…_ warm._

"Kagamine Len" I said, my voice shaking, shakier than how I first met Gumi.

"Well, you don't have to be so shy you know, anyway, I'm the head prefect here and I'm also your orientation group leader. The rest of the group are in the hall now, and you'll be meeting the rest of them later. If there's anything you need, you can just ask me okay?" she said.

"Well, I'll be going now," I said, and excused myself.

I went into the cubicle and shut the door. _What was I thinking._ That was embarrassing. I'm never normal around strangers; it makes me feel kind of uneasy. The thought of the awkward introduction with Hatsune-senpai kept playing through my mind, as I took off my soaked shirt and ran the soft towel across my my bare chest. But well, I guess I'll adapt to my surroundings after a while. I'm always shy with strangers at first, but I'll talk more with them as I get closer and more comfortable to them.

I buttoned up the dry blazer over the new clean shirt and dumped the heavy wet clothes into a plastic bag. I went over to the sink, and lay my hands below the cold running water. _Calm down Len, it's going to be alright_, I said, as I wiped cold water on my face. I left the bathroom and went straight away to re-join the other two. As I walked down the hallway, I could hear Gumi and Hatsune-senpai engaged in an enthusiastic conversation.

Maybe Hatsune-senpai seems to be like me. She appeared quite shy when we first met just now, but unlike me, she's brave enough to take the first step to break down the barriers. Well, I guess she talks a lot too once she's comfortable enough with someone. The two stopped when they saw me. Hatsune-senpai turned around, as if she's about to address me. My heart skipped a beat. Hatsune-senpai just makes me so… nervous.

"Ah, you're back! Well, the hall's this way." She said, and walked down the hallway towards a staircase.

Gumi and I followed her up the stairs, our footsteps echoed against the hard walls. Well, at that moment, I just felt I had to break the silence. If I ever were to stop being the awkward boy I am now, I _had _to learn how to interact with people, and now seems like an excellent opportunity.

"Hatsune-senpai," I tried articulating normally and as calm as I could, "What club are you in?" I continued.

"Well... I'm the manager of the track and field team. It's actually quite meticulous, but well I guess it's kind of fun. Anyway, what do you intend to join? Oh, and just call me Miku-chan, I just find going around being called 'senpai' makes me feel weird." she replied, giggling.

_Miku-chan_… I didn't expect her to be this friendly and open. She's not the crazy type of friendly like Gumi, but more of a sweet and nice kind of friendly. But I guess that's what it takes to be a head prefect. She was looking at me, but realizing my silence she began to lose interest in my reply and got distracted by the flowering blossoms outside the window of the corridor.

"Oh, sorry! I guess I'll join Guitar Ensemble or something, if there even is one here." I replied quickly, to make up for the awkward pause just now.

"Ah well, I'm sorry to dissapoint you, but I'm afraid there's no Guitar Ensemble here. Still, I find playing the guitar's kind of cool. Why not join Track and Field? You're quite fast you know, just now in the morning you ran across the entire courtyard in just like fifteen seconds! We have quite some number of vacancies, so you can join, if you'd like." She said excitedly.

"Well maybe I'll consider it-" I began to say, but was interrupted by someone calling out from behind.

I turned around, and saw a senior, taller than all three of us walking up to Miku. He had deep blue hair, and azure, mature eyes. He waved at Miku-chan. She waved back.

"Miku-chan." He said casually, as if it wasn't awkward to be calling her that "There's some things Kasane-sensei would like to settle with you in the boardroom, administration stuff most probably. Also, I have the expenses report with me, but she said I have to compile it together in the file together with all the other financial reports, but the thing is, I… forgot where you kept it." The blue-haired senior said, smiling sheepishly.

"Silly Kaito-kun." She said jokingly, giggling. "Well when we get there I can show you where I kept it." She continued, still smiling.

"Well you guys can go on to the hall first, I have some very important stuff to settle. See you later!" she turned around and addressed us.

Gumi and I started to make a move, but I stood rooted to the ground when I saw Miku-chan holding hands with Kaito-kun. They were chatting merrily as they walked down the corridor, and didn't notice me watching. I watched them, until they both disappeared around the corner. Sure, they looked happy together, but… I just don't know.

In a little corner of my heart, I just felt a little… _sad._


	3. Chapter 3

In the end, I just chose to join Track and Field, mostly because there weren't any other clubs that really made me interested. Gumi joined Badminton, and I think Rin joined choir. It's been two weeks since that day, and most of the time I go home with either Rin-chan or Gumi. Apparently I'm in the same class as neither of them. Classes have been quite okay, I find Biology particularly interesting, but I can't really say the same thing for Maths or Physics. Well, anyway, the school informed us that clubs would only start two weeks into term, and now it's been two weeks since then. I don't know, but I felt quite apathetic about Track at that moment, maybe because I haven't actually _gone _for an actual training session.

After the bell rang, signalling the end of lessons, I walked down the hallways to the lockers, my bag slung over my right shoulder. As soon as I reached my locker, which was tucked in a corner, I opened the door and took out my new pair of track shoes, and my folded t-shirt and shorts. I put on the new pair of shoes and took off my blazer, folded it and placed in in the locker. I looked around, well, nobody's here, and with that I began to unbutton my shirt. I don't have much time to get to the track, clubs start in 5 minutes time, so I guess changing here would save some time. I wonder where Choir and Badminton are held. I sighed, well at least there's Miku-chan in Track, so at least I know at least _somebody _in there. I threw off my shirt onto the bench when…

"Kagamine-kun?" a familiar voice made me turn around.

Hatsune-senpai was standing behind me. She was wearing her blazer and skirt, complete with tie and all, and was holding a clipboard. I quickly grabbed my t-shirt and put it on to cover my bare body. I flushed, as she stared at me inquisitively. She then broke out into a soft giggle.

"You do know you're not allowed to change here right?" she said seriously, quickly ceasing her giggling.

"Yeah, um… I'm sorry I was afraid I might be late so…" I replied, trying to justify my actions nervously.

"It's okay, since you've just joined, I'll look over it this time. But don't ever do it again okay? You can't just go changing anywhere you want around here, it's a mixed school and there are female students around. And it's not nice to let girls see you change right? Anyway, you've still not changed fully yet. I'll look away okay, just finish changing and we can go to the track together." She said.

My cheeks began to redden as I took off my pants and replaced them with the lighter black shorts. Well, at least she wasn't exactly looking at me, but her presence there while I was changing was embarrassing enough. I dumped my clothes into my school bag and slammed the locker door. Upon hearing that, she turned around, and bid me to join her to walk together to the track. She talked for some fair bit, mostly asking how school was for me and how I enjoyed it, which I mostly answered with nods and mumbled yeses. We walked out of the school building, and boy was it quite chilly. It's no wonder why school uniforms include the blazer in spring. Well, I guess for track it wouldn't really made sense to run around in heavy blazers, so we had to use t-shirts and shorts anyway.

After quite some deal of walking through the compounds, and being compelled to bow to any teacher that walked past with Miku-chan, we finally reached the track. It was quite large, with a field in the middle. The pole vault equipment was all stacked to one side, and the discus throwing arena was on the other side, across the large green field. The long red track encircled the field while the seating gallery was on the side nearer to the classroom block; it was technically connected to it by sheltered walkways as a matter of fact. Miku-chan waved at someone who was sitting on the far end of the gallery, he looks familiar. Maybe I've seen him before, but where? Then it struck me. It was the dark-haired senior that Miku-chan held hands with on the first day of school. What was his name again? Kaito-kun, if I'm not mistaken?

"Kaito-kun!" Miku-chan called out to him, from one end of the gallery to the other.

"Miku-chan!" the dark-blue haired senior stood up and waved back.

Miku-chan walked up the steps to Kaito-senpai and started to talk to him, and left me down there, at the bottom of the gallery. I don't know why, but the sad, bitter feeling came back. _Why am I feeling sad over this, it doesn't concern me if she has a boyfriend._ Neither did I know how and why I am feeling so miserable and sad. This is so… complicated. At that moment, Miku-chan walked down the steps with Kaito-senpai behind her and approached me.

"Kagamine-san, this is Shion-san, he's our track captain, he'll be in charge for your training schedules, warm ups and all that. He's in charge of the juniors, which are all the new club members this year. I'm sure you'll have fun!" she said, and after waving to both Shion-senpai and I goodbye, she took her leave.

"Hi there… I'm Shion Kaito, nice meeting you!" He extended his forearm.

I shook his hand. I've seen him a few times over the past two weeks, rushing down the hallways with piles of forms and bundles of reports in his arms. I guess he's on the prefectorial board too, like Miku-chan. He then went on about training regimens and explaining what they usually do in track, and also a run through of the different events. I can't really remember much what happened that training, but I knew it was pretty exhausting. We went for a couple of rounds around the track, trying out the different events, sprinting, hurdles, those kind of stuff. We did some push-ups as well.

Track ended quite late, and Rin-chan sent me a message to say that she'll be leaving first since Choir ended quite early that day. I sauntered slowly down the quite street, dragging my heavy bag along with me, as the sky began turning shades of red and yellow. It was already about seven. I lost my bicycle on the first day of school, since I forgot to lock it that time, and somebody must have mistakenly taken my bicycle. So now I'm stuck to taking the train, since school is too far away to walk home, and the buses pretty much take about half an hour. I walked past the large park where Gumi and I were caught splashing about in that icy pond two weeks ago. I chuckled, as I thought of Gumi, she must've been the _craziest _girl I have ever met. Well, for the past two weeks she usually goes home with me on the train, but for today, she probably left earlier, I'm not sure… I don't know what time Badminton ends. Well, but she seemed kind of enthusiastic when she was talking about it after club sign-ups. I sighed. Today sure was tiring. My sweaty shirt stuck onto my body.

Out of boredom, I stepped onto the steep curb on the edge of the pavement in an attempt to walk while keeping myself in balance. Other than the occasional car or bus, the street was practically empty. I line my steps carefully in front of each other, and stretched out my arms to try to stay upright on the slanting and narrow curb. I took a step forward, but my heavy bag pushed me forward and caused me to fall and crash onto the hard cold stone pavement. I lay there sprawled, and I felt a little giddy. I tried to get up, but it took me some time, and I managed to get up onto my knees. I touched my forehead, and my fingertips were stained a little with blood. Ah well, I guess I should be more careful next time. I heard someone scream out my name and heard the rushing footsteps approaching me from behind.

"Dude are you alright?" Gumi asked, her green eyes filled with both concern and worry.

"Yeah sure, I'm fine…" I replied.

I tried to get up, but as I cast my weight onto my right foot, I felt an extreme sharp pain. The shock caused me to stumble forward and I nearly fell again, had not Gumi caught me.

"Are you sure you're alright?" she looked at me.

"I think I've sprained my ankle… Ah!" I flinched.

"I know how it feels." She said, and with a smile, she put my hand over her shoulder.

She walked slowly, with me limping beside her down the road. She was looking forward, with a determined expression written across her face, I guess maybe I'm kind of heavy. She was wearing the school blazer, so she must have changed already. Her jade green hair was shining in the waning sunlight.

"Um… It's okay I can walk on my own." I tried telling her, although I perfectly well knew that I couldn't, I just didn't want to trouble her.

"Don't be silly, it hurts really badly you know. But well, if you insist… I'll help carry your bag anyway, it seems kind of heavy." She said, and lifted the heavy bag off my burdened back.

She was carrying two bags at once, and I could see that it was already straining her. I took a step forward, but the pain was too intense, and walked unstably, nearly missing a step. She caught me and stabilised my posture.

"Silly." She chuckled.

She grabbed my arm wrapped it over her shoulder, and started walking slowly again down the road. Even though she was tired, noticing the silence, she began to talk about her training. Well, I guess I'm quite okay with her attempting to break the silence whenever there is one; she just has some charisma that makes her so easy to talk with. She asked me how my training was, and I told her how I ran around the track like a dozen times with addition to a tiring number of push-ups. She looked at me with amazement when I told her about training, and then started talking about how fun her training went, packing up and that kind of stuff. I guess it seems like she finds joy in everything she does.

After some deal of dragging me along with her, we reached a bus stop along the road, well, not exactly a bus stop, but more of a bus stand if you ask me. She got me to sit down at one of the benches, while she whipped out her phone and punched in some numbers. I watched her as she sat there on the next bench talking on the phone, nodding animatedly. I wanted to ask her who she was talking with, but it wasn't nice to interrupt someone's phone call, so I waited for her to finish. But the moment she snapped her phone shut, before I could even utter anything,

"I'm hiring a taxi." She blurted out.

"What? You-you don't need to!" I tried to deny her request, shaking my head.

"It's fine, I'm taking the taxi home too anyway." She smiled, and with that, got up from her bench.

She paced about the bus stand restlessly, and read the bus timings out loud. After a while, she got tired and went up to me. She folded her skirt underneath her and sat down right next to where I was. She brought her schoolbag up to her lap and fiddled with the zip for a while, and took out a packet of facial tissues. I looked at her curiously, wondering what on earth could this weird girl could be doing with them as she took a piece out and folded it into a quarter with her fingers. Then, she slowly turned towards me and shifted her seat so she would be closer to me. She kept getting nearer and nearer, I turned away and shifted to the empty space to the right of me, but she kept pushing forward. At last I was already on the edge of the seat. My heart began thumping violently. As she came closer, she reached her hand out towards my face.

And she took the tissue she was holding and dabbed it against my forehead a couple of times. I gulped. _What _is the meaning of all this. On seeing my probably terrified expression, she retreated.

"Ah, sorry! I was just trying to wipe the blood from your forehead!" she laughed awkwardly, holding the now-crumpled tissue paper stained with the brownish-crimson liquid.

Okay she is really darn weird girl. For the remainder of the moment there at the bus stop we sat in awkward silence. A few minutes later, the cab pulled up to the stop, and we both got in the back seat. I told the taxi driver my address, and we all stayed silent during the entire cab journey, as the cab cruised through the quiet suburban streets.

Once the taxi arrived at my house, I waited for Gumi as she fiddled in the pockets of her purse. Suddenly, her eyes widened in panic and her face grew pale. "I don't have enough money" she mouthed, and with that, I took out my wallet. I don't know, but somehow I felt like I had been anticipating that. I chuckled. I already intended to pay for the taxi fare from the start, since I have enough money, and some spare money mom gave me in case of any emergency like this happened. After I passed the folded notes to the driver, we thanked him and exited the cab onto the pavement in front of my house.

We stood rooted on the pavement, and watched as the taxi disappeared down the road. It was almost dark now, with just the slightest rays of red glowing in the horizon. Gumi shuffled a bit, then turned around and looked at me.

"Um, sorry you had to pay for the taxi fare. I ran out of money." She apologised, looking at me with her bright, sincere, green eyes.

"Well, I guess I should be the one saying sorry, it's my fault that troubled you in the first place." I said to her, placing all the blame on myself.

"Aha, what are friends for anyway?" she said jokingly, and punched my shoulder.

At that moment, Rin-chan opened the main door and walked across the yard, like she always did when she's tasked to water the flowers every evening. Her hair was clipped up, and she's already changed into home clothes, a yellow blouse and shorts. She seemed surprised to see Gumi, and that moment she threw the empty watering can onto the grass, and ran up to us, with the gate keys in her hand. She opened the gate, and let the both of us in.

"Gumi-chan! What are you doing here at this time? Did Len-kun disturb you?" she asked Gumi, then turned to look teasingly at me.

"Ah! It's nothing like that!" Gumi said, laughing. "Well, you see, Len-kun just happened to…" she continued, rambling about how I fell and whatever happened just now to Rin-chan, who listened intently and started giggling.

"Aww poor you!" Rin-chan said with playful sympathy to me, while at the same time staring at my injured foot.

"Anyway, you must be tired, why don't you come inside for a while, I'll make you some tea or something." She turned around to look at Gumi.

"Rin-chan... It's fine, I have to get home soon anyway. But still, thank you." Gumi replied, trying to reject her offer.

"Nevermind, it's just for a while." Said Rin, persistent.

Rin-chan grabbed Gumi's forearm, and literally pulled her along. I've seen this before quite sometimes, when Rin-chan is insistent, she would basically accept agreement with her as the only answer. She went ahead with Gumi into the house, leaving me limping behind them both.

When we entered the living room, Mom was busy laying bowls of rice on the dining table. Rin-chan went up to her and introduced her to Gumi, who bowed. Mom gave Gumi her warm smile and told her to sit down, while she was preparing dinner. Everyone seemed to be to engaged with their own activities that they forgot I was there. With a broken ankle. Not until Rin-chan saw me when she turned around to get something, that she remembered and told Mom about me, who instructed me take a bath which she prepared for me before that, before going down for dinner. I climbed up the stairs to go and refresh myself, I was ridiculously sweaty and uncomfortable. It didn't hurt much if you walk slowly and carefully, and not put too much force onto the injured leg. Even as I closed the door to the bathroom and immersed myself in the warm water, I could hear the muffled sounds of Rin and Gumi's voices as they chatter merrily downstairs.

After getting myself cleaned and slipping into my lighter and cooler jersey and shorts, I went downstairs for dinner. Gumi, Rin and Mom have apparently began without me, and they were having a conersation. It was quite lively by the looks of it. I took my seat beside Rin-chan, who passed me a bowl of rice with a piece of eel on it. I was basically eavesdropping on their conversation, since I wasn't even part of it, save for the few times where either one of them would refer to me, usually for a 'is it true?' or something along those lines. Basically all three of them were talking about a menagerie of various topics, that I couldn't really keep track. After wolfing down my meal, I carried my bowl and chopsticks to the sink. I thanked my mom, and then told everyone I was going upstairs to retire for the night, I was already exhausted. As I got up the stairs, I could hear Gumi wish me good night, but I was too tired to say anything I just nodded in reply.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up rather early the next morning, around six-thirty I guess, to the smell of fresh spring air mixed with toast. I slowly got up from bed, treading carefully, and holding on to the wall for support. I picked up the blanket which lay in a pile on the floor at the foot of my bed, which happens to be the case once in a while. After tucking in the blanket neatly and covering my bed with it like a shroud, I went to the door and twisted the cold metal doorknob. The wooden door creaked as I pushed it open, and I stepped into the empty hallway. I could hear water coming from the bathroom; it's no surprise actually, Rin-chan always wakes up this early. As I approach the dining room, I could see Mom busily preparing our lunchboxes in the kitchen, and Dad, already in his suit, reading the newspaper at the dining table. Breakfast was already laid out on the table, toast with jam accompanied by fruit-scented tea in mugs.

"_Ohayo okaa-san"_ I greeted Mom, somehow every time I wake up, she's already busy doing something somewhere in the house. Who knows what time she gets up at.

"_Ohayo gozaimas,"_ she replied, while wiping her hands on her dry green apron "I've made breakfast, go ahead and eat first, then after you shower, Dad will send both of you to school together. "She said, smiling pleasantly at me, and then disappeared into the laundry room.

I remember the last time Dad sent us to school was way back in the first year of middles school, and ever since that he didn't anymore, probably because he leaves early for the office. He most probably arranged to start work late so he could send us to school. _Because of me, in fact._

I took my seat on the dining table, fiddled with the toast a bit, still feeling half-sleepy, before taking small nibbles out of the corner of the crispy piece of toast. Immediately after, Rin-chan came downstairs, already dressed in her uniform, and took her seat opposite mine. I reached out for the jar of jam in the middle of the table, my fingers clasping onto the slippery cold glass container. I saw, from the corner of my eye Rin-chan looking at me, as if expecting something to happen. Her cerulean eyes following my hand made me nervous, and I gulped. The way she likes to act cute creeps me out sometimes. She's just overdoing it, but she's a really nice person actually, but I guess Miku-chan is sweeter and gentler. _Ah why am I thinking of Miku-chan… I'm just her junior anyway._

I pulled the jar near me, and scooped out a spoonful of strawberry jam, and spread it on my other toast. I sighed in relief, I was afraid my shaky hands would mishandle the jar, since I was trembling so badly just now. I screwed the cap back on loosely, since somebody is bound to scoop out some jam, since Rin-chan still hasn't touched her toast and Dad was still engrossed with his newspaper. I placed the jar in front of me.

"Ah, _onii-chan…_ Can you help me pass the jam here?" she asked me, with her soft voice like she always did. No wonder she was looking at the jar when I took it, I must have taken it before she even had the chance to reach out for it.

I tried to grab the jar, but this time, I accidentally pushed it, and the jam jar toppled over, and blobs of pink jelly flowed out like molten lava onto the red-chequered tablecloth. Oops. Rin-chan sighed, and Dad just lowered his newspaper for a while to see what the noise was, but seeing it was just the usual me being clumsy, he continued scanning through the headlines.

I quickly got up from my chair, intending to go to the kitchen to get some kitchen towels, but the sharp pain in my ankle stopped me from going any further, probably because I initially forgot about my condition and pressed my weight on my right foot, which was kind of a habit before. Before I could say anything Rin-chan stood up.

"_Onii-chan, _just stay here, I'll get the kitchen towel." She said in a partially irritated voice, and with that, she went off into the kitchen.

She came back with the roll in her hands, and she began to scrub the crimson stains off the tablecloth vigorously with a damp piece of tissue. Seeing nothing else I could do, I grabbed my blazer from the laundry room and went upstairs to shower and get ready for school.

I locked the door shut, and turned the tap open, letting warm water gush into the tub, filling it. I slid out of my sleepwear and let them drop onto the white-tiled floor. After the water has reached three-quarters of the tub, I slipped into the water, letting myself be absorbed by the warmth. I rubbed the soothing water onto my naked legs, scrubbing my knees and thighs with fluffy lather. And all this while, the image of Miku-chan smiling was playing in my head. Oh gosh why do I keep thinking about her? I've only known her for two weeks, and already not a day goes by without an image of her, or the sound of her sweet, melancholic voice echoing in my mind. And sometimes there are _those _thoughts. I shook the thought of Miku-chan out of my mind, besides there are more important things to think about like… And at that moment I've realised I haven't done my literature assignment, which was due today. I panicked for a while, but hey, there's nothing I can do except ask, well actually _beg _Sakine-sensei for an extension, hopefully she gives me one. I sighed and leaned my tired body against the back of the tub, sinking into the warm soapy water. With my right index finger, I took a swathe of foam and drew, actually, doodled on the tiled wall beside me. But why do I keep thinking of Miku-chan, she's always there, playing in some part of my head. Maybe, just maybe… Could it be that I somehow_ like _her? No, no that can't be it, I've only known her for two weeks, how is it possible that I can develop feelings for her? What am I, some kind of _pervert?_ I slapped myself, causing a thick slab of foam to stick onto my cheek. I let out another deep sigh, that can't be it. I don't have a crush on Miku-chan, I don't think that enough time has passed already for feelings to develop. It's hard to explain I guess. That was when I realised the bathroom was getting a bit misty and I guess that I must have spent quite some time there, and got out of the bathtub.

After stepping out of the warm bath and putting on my uniform, I looked at myself in the misty mirror. I squeezed some toothpaste onto my wet toothbrush, and started brushing my teeth. I spit the last of the soft foam into the porcelain sink and rinsed my mouth with a glass of cool water, removing the intense spicy feeling off my taste buds. Well, there's track today, so maybe I can do my assignment during that time since I won't be able to run anyway.

I got out of the steamy bathroom, grabbed my bag from my room, and headed straight to the car. I was surprised to find Rin-chan and Dad already getting into the car. Oh boy how long did I take in the bath?

After a fifteen-minute drive through the streets in silence, we finally reached the school gates. We both got out, and waved goodbye to Dad as he drove off. We walked towards the classrooms, across the courtyard, as the cool morning air swept through the courtyard. I walked beside Rin, who was reading some novel, and also wearing headphones, while not failing to keep her stride. Although many people, me included, have told her that it's no good to be reading while walking, the advice always falls on deaf ears. She just likes reading books and her novels are inseparable from her, no wonder she was so quiet on the car. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and fished around it with my hand and took it out. Ah well, I just forgot to switch off my alarm, and now it's ringing. What a bother.

"Ah! _Gomenasai!"_

I looked up, and saw Miku-chan in front of me, while Rin-chan still walked ahead. I guess she didn't even realised they both nearly walked into each other, and just carried on moving forward. Miku-chan, as usual was wearing her blazer, and tartan skirt, and was carrying two boxes stacked on top of each other, and also pinned down her clipboard against her chest using her chin. Her long teal hair flew in the soft morning breeze, and I couldn't help but stare in awe at her beautiful hair. She was struggling with the boxes, and looked kind of pale. Hesitantly, I approached her, my heart beating faster with every step I take.

"Erm… Do you need help with that Miku-chan?" I asked nervously, the shakiness apparent in my voice.

"Ah, thank you!" she replied, smiling happily.

She bent down and placed the boxes in front of me. Colour seemed to be returning to her cheeks once more. She let go of the clipboard under her chin, and held it with her right hand. She started writing some things on the clipboard, while I picked up both the boxes. Actually, they weren't really that heavy, and honestly I expected them to be heavier when I saw how Miku-chan was struggling with them.

"Sorry to have troubled you Kagamine-san," she apologised, while swiping her fringe to the left with on hand and holding the clipboard in the other.

"Erm- It's okay, you were having so much trouble with it, and it's Rin-chan's fault anyway, she walked into you. Well she's always like that, I'm sorry." I replied.

"Ah, you know that girl just now?" she asked.

"Yeah, she's my sister." I said, shifting my weight.

"Ah, no wonder she looked so much like you, you know, the hair and all. Anyway, we're bringing these boxes to the equipment store, I'll show you where it is." She told me.

We walked through the corridors of the main building, past Lily-sensei's office and climbed up a few flights of stairs. The school was rather quiet in the morning, since most students either hung around the courtyard or went straight to their respective classrooms. She opened the door with her key, and pushed the door into the dark storeroom. The room was stuffy and smelt musky. She instructed me to place the boxes on the floor, and said that she'll be dealing with them later. She closed the door behind her as we exited the room and into the cooler and fresher air of the corridor.

"Ah, Len, Thanks so much!" she said "I owe you this one, so are you free this Saturday?" she asked.

"Ye-ah sure… Why?" I replied, feeling squirmy.

"Well, I want to treat you to a meal or something; well I owe you for today, and also the other time when I rode on your bicycle. I just want to return the favour." She added, this time smiling.

"Well… sure I guess." I accepted her invitation, and I could feel thick red painting on my cheeks.

"Anyway, can I have your number?"

"Erm-" I gulped. Did she just ask me for my number? This is _awkward. _

"No, don't worry it's just for club purposes, if there's any updates or anything." She said, probably upon seeing my nervousness. She gave me that reassuring smile again. The one that made me melt. I told her my number, and as if she was taking a dictation test, she scribbled it on her clipboard while listening intently to the digits I mentioned.

"Yeah, and I'm not going to be running today. I sprained my ankle." I told her.

"Well, then you have to sit out then. Well have you decided on what event you're going to be in?"

"I guess I'll go for hurdles…"

"Oh, cool. Yeah, so I'll meet you in track?"

"Yeah, sure."

She walked off in the other direction headed along the corridor, her steps echoing down the hallway, while I walked off in the opposite way, heading for class. Well there's track today, at 3, after curriculum time. I'm actually beginning to enjoy track, maybe it isn't so bad after all. But it's kind of pitiful I'm only able to go for actual training next week, since my ankle is sprained. Mom called Sakine-sensei yesterday (who also turns out to be in charge of track, even though she's too busy to even supervise us), and informed her about me. She hasn't brought me to the Doctor yet, and Sakine-sensei told us to get a medical certificate for me by the end of the week. The week is already coming to a close, today already being a Wednesday (well I guess I might be pessimistic in that sense), so I guess I'll go dragging myself to the clinic tomorrow after school, I'll check my schedule to see if I'm free. Talking about schedule, I forgot what the first lesson was for that day. I let go of both my bag straps and placed it on the ground. I was still at the stairwell, but I just urgently felt the need to check today's timetable. I kept to the side of the stairs, to allow some students to filter past me, school was going to start quite soon, and now many students are shuffling between the blocks to get to their respective venues. I flipped through my not-very-neat clear book folder to look for the class timetable given out by Sakine-sensei on the second day.

Well, it seems that the first lesson is going to be Math. Oh great, my 'favourite' subject. Also, adding the fact that the teacher's rather fierce, it doesn't alleviate the hatred I felt towards math lessons. I've never been good at it in the first place. I sighed, with the folder in my hands and my bag unzipped, walked towards class.

I can't believe I actually survived the two-hour period of the teacher monotonously rambling about replacing numbers with letters and some complicated formulae. It was boring, to say in the least, but at least I managed to take down some notes and stuff. The lesson after that was history, and it wasn't that bad, we learned about the Sengoku period or something, or was it the Kamakura period? Ah, just goes to show I wasn't paying attention in History. Finally it's lunch break, and I went down to the cafeteria to eat. I brought along my lunchbox Mom made for us earlier this morning, and waited for Rin outside her classroom. She came out of her class a few minutes after me and the both of us, and Gumi went down stairs for lunch.

The three of us sat at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, Rin and I unpacked our lunchboxes while Gumi went to buy some food. Looks like Mom packed us identical lunches again. We both had some rice, _tamago _and two pieces of _ebi_. Gumi came back a few minute later, bringing with her a packet drink and a _melonpan. _

Rin-chan and Gumi-chan began talking after a while, and I sat there with them eating in silence. Both of them seemed kinda close, and they tend to slip into their own conversations, leaving me in awkward silence. On the other side of the cafeteria, I saw Miku-chan and Kaito-senpai eating together. She was already nearly done, and she repacked her lunchbox and got up. They were both walking in our direction, along the aisle.

I turned around, hoping she won't see me. My heart thumped faster and faster as I heard her steps approaching. I hope she won't see me…

"Kagamine-san!" she called out, and waved as she walked past me.

"A-ah… Hi." I stuttered.

"See you in track later okay?" she said, and walked off, holding Kaito-senpai's hand.

Ugh. Why do I keep acting like this around her? Why can't I just greet her in a normal manner, gosh. I sighed and slumped back into the chair. I could hear Rin-chan and Gumi whispering to each other and giggling, but to be honest I couldn't really care less. Lunch was soon over and we had to go back to class, there were a few more hours to go before Track. The three of us walk restlessly towards class.

After what seemed like hours of monotonous rambling, the school bell finally rang signalling the end of class. I got to the track way before the scheduled time, since I didn't have to change and deal with packing my stuff at the locker. When I reached there, I was about ten minutes early, and the stadium was rather quiet, other than the chatter and commotion coming from the classroom blocks in the background. The wind blew lightly, and the faint shadows tilted away from the afternoon sun.

I let my bag drop onto the floor and sat down on the bench. Well, since I won't be running today anyway, so might as well do my homework. And yes, my literature assignment. I nearly forgot about that. I took the sheets of paper from my bag, and began scribbling in answers for the questions, starting with algebra first, since I find it more straight forward than analysing text. I was absorbed in finding what x was I didn't realise the rest of the track members were already making their way there.

"Ah, Kagamine-san, you're not training today?" I looked up, and saw Shion-senpai approaching me.

"Yeah, well you see, I sprained my ankle, so… yeah." I tried to explain, gulping.

"So, you're gonna just stay here? I mean, you don't need to come for training since you can't train anyway." He continued.

"Well, I'm planning to do my homework here if you don't mind; I have to wait for my sister's club activities to end, that's all right isn't it?" I asked my track captain.

"Yeah sure, I'm fine with that. Well, I have to set up the equipment now, do your best okay?" he said encouragingly, and then went off.

I fiddled with my mechanical pencil as I filled in the last of the algebra questions. Shion-senpai has already set up some of the equipment, and the other track members were already starting to do their warm-ups. I kept the algebra worksheet into my math file and took out my literature assignment. I sighed. It isn't because I don't like literature; it's just that… it's not my forte. I squinted at the poem written on the paper, trying to analyse it.

_Though I go to you  
ceaselessly along dream paths,  
the sum of those trysts  
is less than a single glimpse  
granted in the waking world._

By Ono No Komachi

I stared at those words bewilderedly, my mind blank. I flipped the page to read the questions, attempting to answer them. I read the questions repeatedly each time more vigorously and agitated, but still, nothing gets to my head. _Calm down_, I told myself. I took a deep breath, and read the question for what seemed to be the tenth time.

"What was the attitude of the poet to the subject?"

I pondered on it again, and sighed. And this was supposed to be the _easy _question.

"Afternoon, Kagamine-san, what are you doing?" I looked up from my work and saw Miku-chan putting her bag down and taking the seat beside me.

"Erm… Well I'm just doing some literature assignment. What about you?" I replied nervously, trying to continue the conversation.

"Oh, just some Prefectoral Committee administration stuff. Anyway, do you need help with your work? You look kind of stressed up." She asked.

Oh god, she noticed? Only then I realised I was sweating profusely. How embarrassing.

"You know you don't have to be so hard on yourself, every problem has a solution you know? If it's just an assignment and you're already _that _stressed up, then it won't get better with other harsher situations won't it? You should ask people for help if you can't handle things you know, everybody needs people to lean on. " she remarked, and gave me her that warm reassuring curve of her lips.

I blushed and looked away, I know how true what she said is. I just couldn't accept that I could make mistakes and couldn't solve _some _problems. And I don't like asking others for help too, it's not like I find other people unreliable, it's just that I feel like I'll trouble them when I ask them for help. I guess I really am too hard on myself.

"Here let me have a look," She said, and I passed my assignment worksheet to her.

"Oh, we did this poem last year, it's one of my favourites." She said casually as she read through the poem and then the questions. "Well my poetry isn't really that fantastic, but I'll try to help as much as I can!" she continued.

She flipped to the other page slowly.

"Well for this type of question right, you have to read the emphasised words on feelings for example, in this case…" she started to explain.

I sat there trying to listen intently, managing to gulp down the majority of what she's trying to get across, but I just couldn't help staring at how… _beautiful_ she was. Her silken teal hair, shiny and smooth, glittered in the afternoon sun. Her eyes, her round, soft aqua eyes, shining with enthusiasm as she tried to explain to me the intricacies of poem analysing and poetic devices. Also, not to mention her calm and peaceful expression as she plunges into deep thought, and finally, her warm, sweet, reassuring smile. I think I might have smiled unconsciously, as she looked at me with an inquisitive expression and raised her eyebrows. I blushed, and looked away.

"Ah, come on Kagamine-san, focus!" she said and smacked my head lightly with her clipboard.


	5. Chapter 5

"Kagamine-san, what is the answer to question B?" Sakine-san asked me, with sharp eyes reflecting not taking "I don't know" as an answer.

I lifted my heavy head from the table, my vision still blurry.

"Yes, Kagamine-san, the answer?" Sakine-sensei was staring at me, and the silence that replied her questions got stares and snickers from the rest of the class. Sakine-san let out a sigh.

"Pay attention in class next time!" she said, pointing the long ruler right in my direction. "Now, class, as you know, the Sakoku period happened during the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate and this…"

I sighed. I was exhausted. I knew I shouldn't have tried out those new guitar scales last night. Mom told me to sleep already, but I guess I was just being purely defiant. I guess I haven't learned my lesson since the first day of school. I looked out of the window, the tree branches outside the window were swaying, while the _Hinomaru _still flying proudly on the flagpole. The white clouds floating in a carefree, fluid motion across the light blue fabric of the sky. The noon sun reflected off the windows of the opposite block.

It was Friday, the end of a long and tiring week. Mother brought me to the doctor the previous day, and retrieved a medical certificate, which I handed to Sakine-sensei before assembly on Friday. The doctor said that I could already start training by the next week, provided I don't injure my ankle again. Other than that, not many memorable things actually happened yesterday, just the usual, typical school day. Mid-years are coming soon, and I've heard from Shion-senpai the annual prefectural track meet is going to be right after summer vacation. Meanwhile, the teachers have all increased the workload and now the assignments and practice papers are starting to pile up. Summative assignments, projects, essays all coming in making me burn midnight oil regularly, but yesterday I just _had _to try out the new scales I found on the internet while working on my Geography essay. I really need to learn to focus on my work. Sakine-sensei told me earlier that morning that I wouldn't need to report for track later in the afternoon, since I wouldn't be able to run anyway.

I looked at my open note-taking book lying on my desk in front of me, and started to take down notes to try to compensate for whatever I've missed when I fell asleep. Nonetheless, I can ask Gumi or Rin for notes if none of them mind. I furiously jotted down notes, squinting my eyes to see the scribbled writing on the whiteboard, Sakine-sensei had near-illegible handwriting. I tried my best to pay attention, but Sakine-sensei's droning bore me to death, and soon I was asleep again, resting my head on my folded arms. Before I knew it, I woke up to the sound of the ringing bell signalling the end of school. I would be going home alone today I suppose, since Rin-chan and Gumi-chan have extra-corricular activities and I don't. So I guess I'll take a long walk home then. The weather's fine that day, so might as well I walk home and enjoy some sun. The class stood up and thanked Sakine-sensei. She then walked out of the room and slowly the other students started streaming out.

I picked up my backpack and sauntered out of the room with the others. It's finally the end of a long and exhausting week. I was the last to leave the classroom, so I switched off the power switch for the fans and lights, and shut the door behind me. I walked down the busy hallways, students were now released, and some were rushing for clubs while others were just loitering and talking to friends. I sauntered off out into the courtyard, and subsequently, out of the gates, which were wide open. I walked down the street, my hands in my pockets. I saw the curb, hanging at the edge of the pavement and sighed deeply. I couldn't wait for my ankle to recover. Why was I so stupid to attempt to balance on that curb and end up hurting myself, and boring myself to death at home. My ankle should be fine by tomorrow, so I guess meeting up with Miku-chan wouldn't pose a problem. Talking about that, she hasn't told me where to meet up yet. Well, I guess she would tell me sooner or later, she has my number anyway. I took a shortcut through an empty alleyway, lined with potted plants. I passed a wooden house, which captured my attention, sandwiched between two others, with a signboard outside it. Until I realised that it wasn't exactly a house, it was a sushi restaurant. I continued on walking, since I had to get home anyway. I reached the end of the alleyway, and walked out into the main street. After walking for some while, past some peach trees, I heard a bicycle bell ringing from the path behind me. I skidded to the side like I usually did, and paid no more further attention to the matter, anticipating the cyclist to cycle past me along the sidewalk.

"Hey, Len!" I heard a girl shout excitedly.

I turned around and saw Gumi cycling, with Rin-chan seated sideways behind her, her legs swinging in the air. Gumi brought the bike up to me.

"Ah… Gumi-chan? Don't you have club stuff going on today? And don't you too, Rin-chan?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well… I just decided to skip choir today…" Rin said, grinning mischievously.

"Well for me, Badminton was cancelled so on the way home I met Rin and decided to give her a lift." Gumi added.

"You do realise that we both live further away from school than you right?" I asked sarcastically, smirking.

"Nah, it's fine, I can cycle back anyway, after dropping you guys off. It's not like it's much of a hard thing to do anyway." Gumi laughed it off.

She cycled slowly alongside me, following the pace of my stride. Rin groaned impatiently in the back seat. She flipped open her fuchsia phone, decorated with bright-coloured stickers on the back and a rainbow keychain, and started to do god-knows-what on it, but whatever it was, she got smiled to herself, and started to get giggly, which was the norm whenever she gets into an excited state of mind. Then I felt her shoe kick my shin really hard, all because she started kicking her legs in the air in her ecstasy.

I cringed. Upon seeing me hurt as a result of her behaviour, she apologised briefly and half-heartedly, obviously paying more attention to her phone than to her twin brother. I rolled my eyes at the apparent and obvious show of apathy, deciding not to pursue the matter any further. She was always like that. She never shows any sympathy or anything towards me, just because she's the older twin and thinks she can mistreat me. But nonetheless, I've grown used to her behaviour, but well I know well enough that she loves me as a brother and I'm grateful for that. I sighed deeply. Well although I have to admit that my heart yearns sometimes to be treated better, and that she'll just tone down her cockiness and ignorance. But I guess that's her way of showing her love, since I'm the only person she treats that way. Or maybe I could be wrong.

Suddenly, Gumi stopped her bicycle and looked at me. She scanned me from top to bottom with her narrowed jade eyes, and then when she realised that I noticed her stare and raised my eyebrows, she suddenly turned around to Rin, still engrossed with her gadget, and blurted out:

"Rin, you've been riding for a long time don't you think? Why don't you let your brother sit and you walk."

Rin hesitated, pretending not to have heard what Gumi had said, but finally sighed and got off upon further prodding on Gumi's part. After an awkward silence, and without her invitation, I got up the bicycle. She then started pedalling slowly, with Rin walking alongside the both of us on the pavement.

"Ah, thank you so much Gumi-chan!" I said to Gumi.

Well thinking about, I actually was tired after walking for a while, it was a Friday anyway. I've drained pretty much most of my energy by then. Combined with the fact that I slept late on the previous day, I was pretty much exhausted. Thank God that Gumi came along.

"Well it's not much, this is for the other day. You know, the first day when you gave me a ride to school and then we um… played in the pond" Gumi trailed off, laughing. "Well that was quite fun, to be honest. Anyway, it's not nice to let a cripple to walk such a long distance!"

Rin didn't even try to hide the wide smile on her face, apparently eavesdropping on our conversation.

"Serves you right for doing something so stupid anyway! Oh, look there's a curb, I'm going to balance myself on it and oops!" Rin said teasingly, and both she and Gumi laughed at this.

"Well I was bored and tired okay, well who wouldn't be after running eight laps around the track!" I defended myself, to which the both of them laughed again.

Well, at least Gumi was returning to her usual behaviour, cheeky and mischievous. What was with her just now? Looking at me with such an expression and then looking away quickly. She was just acting so… _not her._

I guess I must have nodded off to sleep because the next thing I remember was Gumi yelling at me, informing me to be prepared because we were going down a steep hill. I woke up, still in a daze, but I felt her cycling faster and faster, picking up speed. Then all of a sudden, I felt the wind blowing hard onto me and the steep drop of the downward-curving pavement. I almost lunged forward and fell to the bare ground. And all the while, Gumi was laughing, enjoying and savouring every drop of the thrill.

"Ugh! Can't you be more careful next time! I almost fell!" I reprimanded her.

"Well, I'm sorry I just couldn't help it, it's fun anyway!" she replied nonchalantly.

"No it's not! Both of us could have gotten hurt!"

"You know Len-kun, you are quite heavy compared to Rin-chan. Anyway you sitting sideways like that makes you look weird." She said, changing the topic entirely.

I changed my seating position, from my legs hanging sideways to my entire body facing forward, one leg on either side, and resting my feet on the centre part of the back wheel. Rin saw this and she laughed.

"You know, this looks _so _wrong." She said, noticing my stare.

I blushed. Well in fact, it did. It was a small bike in the first place, so with me seated like that, I have put the both of us in an awkward-looking arrangement.

"Sorry Gumi-chan, I think I'll get off and walk. Thanks for the ride." I got off, and swapped places with Rin.

Gumi didn't say much of it, she just nodded her head and said that she was fine with it either way. Besides, we were only an intersection away from our house. We waited for the traffic light to turn green, and crossed the road. The breeze was blowing slightly sending my blonde fringe to cover my eyes, and I hastily swiped them back into place.

"Hey, do both of you have any plans tomorrow? We can go and play badminton near my house!" Gumi suddenly said.

"Yeah, sure thing. I'm free tomorrow anyway." Rin immediately replied.

I fell silent. Well, I could tell them Miku-chan invited me to go out to treat me, but I was afraid they would misunderstand and the situation might get… sticky. What should I tell them? I pondered about it silently in my head. Talking about that, she hadn't told me where to meet up yet… Maybe she couldn't make it tomorrow? I sighed. Of course, she has a boyfriend, what did I expect. Sure, Shion-senpai would have invited her out tomorrow, since it was a weekend, and they're finally free. They look like a rather close couple and of course Miku-chan would follow Shion-senpai on their date…

"Hey, Len-kun, you're spacing out…" Gumi said, cringing her eyebrows.

"Oh, umm… Sorry. I-I kind of have some plans tomorrow. Sorry guys." I said, trying to avert my eyes, blushing.

"Oh well, that's too bad then. Looks like Rin and I would have to just have fun without you!" She said light-heartedly.

We crossed the road as the vehicles came to a stop, Gumi and Rin on the bicycle with me accompanying them on foot. We walked along the pavement, and were only a few metres from our front gate.

"Oh yeah, your house is just right over there. I'll drop you guys off here, later!" she started to get on her bicycle.

Still, after some persistent pleading on Rin's part, Gumi decided to stay over for a while. Rin brought her to the living-room. As per usual, Gumi-chan would greet Mom, and Mom would be pleased to see her. Well, I can't really blame her, since we rarely bring home friends from school. As a matter of fact, I think Gumi-chan is the first friend either of us took back home with us. Even though Rin-chan was rather popular and well-liked in middle school, Well in middle school, Mom would always tell us and complain jokingly that we'd never bring back any friends home from school, and that she was getting tired of us being the only teenagers she'd see in the house.

I walked past the living room from the laundry room after dumping my socks into the washing machine. All three women were sitting around the coffee table, chatting loudly, that I could make up the topic, not that it really mattered anyway, it'll always change sooner or later. Well for now, I could make out them talking about make up, and how Gumi told the other two the time she accidentally used lipstick as eyeliner, while I sort out my laundry Mom just washed this morning and carrying them out in a heap in a plastic bucket.

As expected of someone like Gumi-chan, she really can just get along with everyone, even strangers. She's just really outgoing, and also able to socialize with basically almost everyone. I sighed quietly to myself, from the bottom of my heart I hope one day I could learn to be more gregarious like her, but still that was quit a daunting and challenging task to achieve for someone of my standards. But hey, maybe if I worked hard, it would be quite a reasonable goal to achieve and wouldn't be impossible.

My train of thoughts were interrupted when the girls cracked up, apparently at something embarrassing that Rin-chan would have been better off without letting her tongue slip. It was the nI decided to go upstairs.

"Hey, if you guys need me, I'll be upstairs in my room." I told them, and climbed up the staircase.

"Sure." I heard Gumi said, acknowledging my absence, then continued chatting away with Rin and Mom.

I went up to my room and dumped the bucket of clothes beside the door. I planned to deal with them later and proceeded to lie down on the fluffy, albeit small bed, still in my uniform. I lazily reached out and rummaged through my school bag, slumped on the leg of the bed, and found my biology textbook in there. I flipped open the heavy covers, and started to read through some – I would say, rather embarrassing pages- concerning the rather secretive parts of the human anatomy. I blushed albeit no one was there. I was embarrassed to say in the least, I just feel weird when this topic would come about. Even though they were just diagrams, but still… Meanwhile, in class whenever the teacher talked about it during biology lessons, all the other classmates would just laugh and make dirty jokes, sometimes the uproar caused forced thee teacher to slam the wooden ruler against the board to get the class's attention to return to the lesson. I quickly and frantically flipped through the pages of the book, just to get away from that page, and arrived at a page containing pictures of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Apparently, it was a chapter detailing how the flowering process works, some things regarding temperatures' effects on plant reproduction and such. But what really caught my attention was the picture of the fuchsia petals shedding in the breeze, against the backdrop of the snow-capped Fuji-san. It reminded me of the first day of school the back in April, when I first met both Gumi-cha and Miku-chan.

I sighed, and continued going back to revising. I returned to those pages on the human body, and began reading through them again. Well, it must be important, since it's listed that the topic would be tested during mid-years. If I ever wanted to achieve my goals, then I would have to work hard, no matter what it takes! Starting with my embarrassment at looking at diagram of human parts which are supposed to be concealed. Mid-years are in five weeks' time, in May. Clubs would stand down for one week before mid-years, so that we would have more time to focus on revising for the examinations. In addition to that, there's also cram school at night, which are optional, but I guess I'll be going anyway, just to thoroughly revise everything. Besides, club would also be very busy, since we have a competition in September. Serious training would begin during the summer break, and continue all the way to September, for the annual competition. I haven't told anyone about me wanting to take medicine in Todai though, that would be just plain embarrassing, and most of my friends would just laugh at me for over preparing too early into the game.

I continued flipping through the book, cramming facts into my head and reading through the notes I've taken in class today. I was deeply absorbed in reading the books, that I didn't notice Rin-chan had been knocking on my door frame to come in for quite some while, until she had to call out my name. Apparently, some of her laundry got mixed with mine, and she wanted to come and retrieve them. She looked through the laundry basket, fumbling through piles of my clothes, while I continued reading my notes and paid not much attention to her. She finally found what she wanted under all those piles of clothes belonging to me, a casual yellow shirt with a sweet pink collar, complemented with contrating white polka dots.

Rin-chan, the shirt still in her arms, came up to me and sat beside me on my bed.

"Oh, what were you doing that you were so engrossed with that you totally did not hear my knocking at your door just now?" she asked.

"Well, I'm just going through my biology materials, you know, mid-years aren't exactly _that _far from now. So might as well do some revision now." I replied casually.

"Oh yes," Rin-chan said, looking surprised. "Mid-years. I nearly forgot. How long more do we have?" she continued, asking me again.

"Well, it should be in around 5 weeks' time. Well we should start revising and sorting our work together now, I suppose. 5 weeks isn't that much of a long time." I said again.

"Uhh, could you help me with some biology questions? I'm gonna go get my worksheets from my bag downstairs." She requested.

"Isn't Gumi downstairs, shouldn't you be entertaining her now instead of studying with me? It's not really a nice thing to do to a guest, I would say." I chided her

"Well, she left a few minutes ago. And speak for yourself." Rin said, as she walked out of the room and into the hallway.

"But you were the one who invited her anyway!" I said, which invited no reply, as I heard her room door close shut.

She left me alone in that room for a while, still reading my book. I flipped through some more additional pages, jotting down the important points onto my note-taking book. Finally, Rin finally came back to my room bringing with her a biology worksheet, the one she said she needed help with. She went up to my bed and sat on the side, and handed the paper over to me. I looked through the question numbers, hastily circled in red ink, indicating the ones that she needed help with. I sighed, some of them were actually really easy questions. I guess she just doesn't pay attention in biology class, but I can't really say anything, since we're in different classes and I don't see what her attitude in class is like, so it wouldn't be fair to judge her or anything.

"Well, for this question, you have to identify the-"

I was interrupted by the vibration of my phone on the mattress. I picked it up, and unlocked the phone, revealing a message sent from a number I don't recognise. It was probably Miku-chan. In my heart, I just had a feeling that she was just going to quickly apologise and inform me that our outing tomorrow would be cancelled, so I hesitated before deciding to dreadfully opening the message. With a heavy heart, I began to read the contents of that message.

"Hi Kagamine-san, this is Miku-"

"Hey, what are you doing? So I identify what?" I looked up and saw Rin staring at me, looking rather frustrated.

I was probably so flustered; I nearly jumped up from the mattress slightly. I felt my cheeks turn crimson red and I looked away from my sister's face, who had her eyebrows raised and a mischievous smirk curved upon her curt lips. I could see her holding back her laughter, and only let past some controlled giggles out.

"What happened? You looked so ridiculous, that's just so… _you, _you act so comical in some situations it's actually worth recording on video." She said "But anyway, back to this question, how do I do this?" she continued.

I stared back at her, still reeling back from the shock she gave me. I was dripping with sweat, and I was just anxious to finish reading the entire message Miku-chan sent me.

"Uhhh… Well! Ah, look at me! I'm still in my uniform and I'm all sweaty! I'm going to change now, so yeah, later!" I said in a cheerful voice, to hide my nervousness and anxiety while I pulled her up from the bed, and pushed her out of her door, ignoring her protests.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief as I slammed the door behind her. I went up to my bed again, and sat, leaning back on propped-up pillows. I again unlocked my phone, and attempted to read through Miku's message, in its entirety this time.

I didn't expect what her actual answer was to be, but I would say it was a rather pleasant surprise, because, after the greetings, were her instructions on where to meet up tomorrow morning.

"Hi Kagamine-san, this is Miku. This is my personal handphone number so if you need anything you can contact me with this number 'kay? Anyway, about tomorrow, meet me in front of the North Entrance of Kanayama Station at 10 in the morning alright? See you tomorrow!" was the message sent by Miku, complete with a smiley emoticon after the final exclamation mark.

I couldn't help but smile to myself. I felt my heart fluttering and accelerating with increasing speed.

"Yes!" I shouted excitedly, clenching my fists.

I let myself fall back onto my bed, drowning myself in my unexplained ecstasy and joy. When everything calmed down, I picked up my phone again, and messaged her that I'll be there and she wouldn't need to worry. I absolutely couldn't wait for tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

"I'll be going now Mom," I said, as I exited the front door.

"Be careful okay? Watch out when you're crossing the road." she warned.

"Sure." I replied, and closed the door.

I walked through the small yard and locked the main gate behind me. The sun was already up midway in the sky, shining upon the streets and houses of Nagoya. I walked briskly to the bus stop a stone's throw away, right around the corner, at the main street. People were already bustling about, moving on with their weekend activities according to their own routines. I walked past the Kamuis' and I saw the couple entering their car. I guess I should greet them, there's still 10 minutes before the 9.30 bus arrives, basic respect anyway.

"Ah, _ohayo Kamui-san_!" I greeted Gakupo-san, as he was opening the door to his silver Nissan.

Gakupo-san was wearing a suit, his purple hair tied to the back of his head. His wife, Luka-san, was already in the passenger seat of the car, in a white lace jacket over an azure dress.

"_Ohayo _Len-kun, where are you going to so early in the morning?" Gakupo-san asked.

"Oh, I'm going out with my friend," I chuckled. "How about you, Gakupo-san?" I continued.

"Well I'm dropping off Luka-san at the hospital for a check-up, and then I have to drop by my office for a while to check on work." He replied.

"Check-up? Urm what for?" I asked, confused.

Gakupo-san chuckled at my bewildered reaction.

"Didn't your mom tell you? Luka-san is 2 months pregnant! Luka-san met her at the supermarket last Saturday and told her about it." He said.

"Oh! Sorry. Congratulations!" I wished them. "Yeah, I'll have to go now, see you!"

"Yeah see you too!"

I waved at them and both of them waved back. I continued walking, and I heard the engine of the Kamuis' silver Nissan driving off in the other direction. I checked my watch; it was already 9.25, so I fastened my pace. I arrived at the bus stop, which was already crowded with people heading towards the city centre. I only had to wait a few minutes before the bus pulled over to the bus stop and people started to line up and board at the entrance of the bus. The bus was nearly empty, since the bus stop was the first stop after the terminal. I was at the back of the queue, so I ended up being one of the last people to enter the bus. I found an empty pair of seats near the front, and sat on the inner seat, right beside the window. The bus started to move, but after a few seconds, the bus driver steeped on the brakes hard, which sent me jerking forward a bit in my seat. The front door of the bus opened. I felt probably somebody almost missed the bus but managed to flag it down before it left the bus stop's vicinity.

"Ah, _arigato gozaimas!"_ said a familiar, cheerful voice.

I looked up, and saw Rin-chan, dressed in a tight-fitting polo with alternating yellow and white stripes, hugging her figure and bosoms, accompanied with a matching white tennis skirt. I blushed, I found the polo was just hugging her chest a little too tightly, but nobody would have paid attention to her chest if she wore any tight-fitting tops just two years ago. Heh. As soon as she saw me, she went up and sat on the seat beside me, putting her large sling bag on her lap.

"And what are you doing here? All dressed up it seems." Rin asked, without greeting whatsoever.

"Um…" I hesitated.

Well, it was true anyway. I was wearing a long-sleeved crisp white shirt and a pair of black jeans. Rin knew me well enough to know I don't wear long-sleeved shirts regularly, especially when summer was approaching and the temperatures are starting to rise.

"Well, I'm going out with my…friend. You're heading for Gumi's house right?" I said, while glancing outside from the window.

"Yeah, we're going to play tennis, so I'm meeting her in front of Kanayama station. I'm a bit early actually, so I guess I'll walk around the station first." She replied.

My heart skipped a beat, and I gulped. _Now this situation might get a little sticky. _

"What's wrong?" she asked, "I'm just meeting Gumi, not like I'm meeting some other guy or something." She continued.

We fell silent after that, and I looked outside of the window, enjoying the morning sun, as it streamed into the air-conditioned bus. Meanwhile, Rin took out a copy of _Norwegian Wood_ from her sling bag and started reading it. I felt a little sleepy so I closed my eyes and rested while leaning against the backrest of the seat, and fell asleep to the constant humming of the engine, and the occasional soft clashing sound the doors of the bus made when they were opened or closed. I nearly slept through most of the thirty minute journey to Kanayama, but when we were almost there, Rin suddenly and violently shook me awake from my slumber.

I opened my eyes slowly at first, adjusting to the bright light in the bus. I slept for I don't know, fifteen minutes?

"We will be arriving at Kanayama station shortly." Announced the bus driver.

I turned around to Rin.

"Hey, thanks for waking me u-"

Rin was red faced, and her cerulean eyes were filled with anxiety and embarrassment.

"Hey what's wrong Rin-chan?" I asked her, I was sincerely concerned since it's rare for her to be acting all squirmy and embarrassed around me.

She put her slim index finger to her lips, and she anxiously moved in her seat nearer to me. She averted her eyes for a while, then when she overcame whatever shame that was holding her back, she took a deep breath.

"Um Len… I think I… um… soiled my panties." She tried to whisper, with so much effort involved.

"You WHAT?!" I said out loud, my face reddening, surprised that she would tell me such a thing.

"Quieten down would you!" she scolded me.

"Yeah… So could you accompany me? Well I brought some sanitary pads but that's not what I'm worried about… There's a department store just inside the station, we have to go in from the North Entrance, so I can get a new pair of panties and another skirt too. Well… I guess you could help watch out for me or something. You know… my skirt." She said.

I gulped. Well, it must have taken her so much effort to tell a boy such things. But still, I have to meet up with Miku later. I checked my watch, it was still five minutes to ten, but I was still kind of nervous.

"Yeah alright." I said reluctantly.

"Thank you so much Len-kun!" Rin said, smiling.

The bus then pulled over to the bus stop in front of the North Entrance and Rin-chan and I got up of our seats. Well after she got up then I realised why she was so desperate to ask me to cover her from behind. When she got up to walk through the centre aisle towards the exit door, I made sure to be immediately behind her. Rin also slung her bag behind her so it helped to cover up the obvious dark crimson stain on the rear of her clean white tennis skirt. Well, it must be really embarrassing for her.

As soon as we got off the bus, Rin-chan walked hurriedly towards the entrance, which made passer-bys look at her with strange looks. I had to catch up with her walking speed, she was basically steamrolling through the entire square towards the station.

"Hey wait up!" I told her.

"Well hurry up already!" She said, angry having to stop to wait for me, we were already at the Northern Entrance.

I walked up to her, a little exhausted after all that walking. Rin was already sweating profusely, making her polo stick even more on her curvy torso. My shoelaces on my sneakers were already half-undone, and I kneeled down to tighten them. As soon as I was done, I stood up, and straightened out my shirt with my palms.

And there she was, standing right in front of me, just beside Rin.

"Ah Kagamine-kun, you're here already. _Ohayo_."

Miku-chan was already there, smiling at me warmly. She was wearing a pink jacket over a light blue knee-length dress with hems treaded with fuchsia lace. Her two ponytails were tied into place with two black ribbons, one on each ponytail. Her white boots complemented her smooth legs and her matching white handbag matched her entire outfit.

"Ah… Err, _ohayo._" I said sheepishly, trying to smile normally, but instead I only managed an awkward , crooked grin.

From the corner of my eye I could see Rin-chan shooting me dirty looks.

"Ah! You must be Kagamine-kun's twin sister! I'm Hatsune Miku, nice meeting you!" Miku-chan turned to Rin and said in a friendly manner, followed with a bow.

"Nice meeting you too, I'm Kagamine Rin." Rin replied.

There was an awkward silence between the three of us, when suddenly Rin came up to Miku and whispered something in her ear for a while. Miku looked surprised, but after that she nodded her head.

"I understand," she said. "Kagamine-kun, could you please wait for me here? I'll be back soon," Miku continued.

"Yeah sure." I said, my heart racing.

With that, the two went off deeper into the complex of stores in the station building while I was left standing there at the North Entrance. I walked around for a bit, but in the end I just ended up sitting on a bench and playing with my phone, texting some friends and looking through some entertainment news. They sure are going to take a while; it's already 10.15 on my watch.

"Hey, Len-kun, what are you doing here?"

I looked up; it was Gumi, wearing a green jersey and black shorts. In her grip was a white tennis racket while a light green cap crowned her short jade hair. I stood up from the bench.

"Oh, well I'm here to meet my friend, you're waiting for Rin right? She went off to get some… stuff. She'll be back soon though." I told her.

"Oh well, I guess I'll wait with you then." She said, and sat on the empty seat beside where I formerly occupied.

"So who's this friend you're meeting up with?" Gumi asked from the bench, while I was standing nervously facing her.

"Well…" I tried to say.

"Ah! Gumi-chan! You're here already, sorry to keep you waiting!" Rin-chan exclaimed, running out of the labyrinth of shops and restaurants towards us at the entrance.

After a short embrace, they began to chatter about, oblivious to the world around them. They began to talk excitedly about something, but then Miku-chan finally arrived, walking briskly. She was panting and her face was slightly pale.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, concerened, as I walked up to her, to which she responded with a nod and gave me the sweet, reassuring smile of hers.

My face reddened and I averted my gaze, and looked down. My heart was thumping furiously. It's like there's some kind of magic that makes me nervous and anxious whenever I'm around her. But still, I steeled myself, since she might feel bad to see me so nervous. She was the one who wanted to treat me in the first place, it wasn't nice for her for me to act all squirmy, she might feel uncomfortable.

"Ah, Miku-chan , sorry for making you run just now, I'm really sorry!" Rin said, turining to Miku-chan, and bowed curtly.

"Nevermind, I'm fine. Thanks for your concern." She said faintly to Rin.

"Erm, then we'll get moving then, see ya!" Rin said cheerfully, and walked off with Gumi, chattering away.

From the corner of my eye I could see the both of them, although walking away, stealing glances at us, whispering and giggling with each other. What did I get myself into.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Miku-chan asked sweetly.

"Y-yeah"

Miku walked beside me, instructing me to go towards the fast-food restaurant just across the road from the station. We walked through the square, where it was already starting to fill with people heading for the station. It felt awkward; some people were looking at us like we were a couple. I wonder if we did look like a couple back then.

We finally reached the air-conditioned fast-food restaurant across the road, by this time, it was already half-full, considering it was already 10.20 on a weekend. We managed to find a window seat, and we sat facing each other.

"So what do you want to order Kagamine-kun?" Miku-chan asked me.

"Umm… I think I'll just get some fries, that'll be fine with me." I said, trying to maintain my calm.

"Okay sure, I'll be back." She said, and got up from her seat and walked towards the counter.

I took a deep breath. Why was I so nervous? Why does my heart beat so rapidly whenever I'm around her? It's not like we're strangers anymore, she's my senior and track manager. I shouldn't act all awkward and nervous around her should I? I stole a glance at the counter, Miku-chan was taking out her purse from her handbag, and paying the cashier. She turned around, and came back carrying a tray, on top of it were two medium-sized cups of drinks and a carton of fries. Miku-chan placed the tray between us.

"Well, I bought you some iced tea, I thought you might be thirsty after waiting for so long." Miku said, reaching for her own cup of iced tea, then placing the straw between her soft pink lips.

"Ah, you didn't have to… I'm really sorry." I said, blushing.

"Well it's okay, it's my treat anyway." Miku-chan replied, then continued to sip on her tea.

Oh gosh what am I saying? I'm acting all weird around her again, I need to calm down. I closed my eyes for a while and took a much-needed deep breath. I need to calm down, and act normal. For a start, I tried to reach out for my cup of tea.

Unfortunately, my hand slipped and the cup nearly fell, almost spilling the tea it held within, but thanks to the intervention of my other hand, I was able to stop it from tipping over, and made it stand upright again. I looked at Miku, her eyes were busily concentrated on her phone, so she didn't see anything. I breathed a sigh of relief. With my heart still in my throat, I slowly and cautiously grabbed hold of the smooth edges of the plastic cup, wet and cold, and brought it closer to me. I sipped some of the ice-cold sweetened milk tea. The cold tea wet my throat, I felt relieved. Thank God, Miku-chan's observant and emphatic, I was really starting to get thirsty after all those walking and waiting. But for some reason I totally forgot about my thirst for the past few minutes when I was with Miku. Weird. For the next few minutes, there we were, Miku occasionally scrolling through her phone, sipping at her tea, and at the opposite end of the table, was me, looking around awkwardly, sometimes stealing glances at Miku with some faint hope that she might say something, but she didn't. She was so busy looking through her phone, she was probably on one of those assignments the prefectorial board gave her, or she might be attempting to contact people for some of her manager duties or something. She always seemed so busy.

After some awkward silence, I decided to try to initiate a conversation. After all, if I ever wanted to stop acting weird around her I'd had to act normally and talk to her right?

"Miku-chan," I said, suddenly and out of the blue I could see the surprise in her aqua eyes when she looked up from her phone screen.

"You..um… look really nice today!" I said, trying my very best not to sound awkward, although I guess she could see me reddening in the face.

"Thank you, your white shirt is really nice as well!" Miku replied cheerfully.

This was getting nowhere.

"You seemed kind of busy, did Kasane-sensei pile up some prefectorial board assignments on you again? Or are you just managing the club? Well it's a Saturday you know, you can… urm… relax a little I guess?" I said, trying again to initiate a conversation.

"Well actually…" she said slowly, and in a soft voice " I was texting my boyfriend… Sorry." Miku continued, lowering her gaze, patches of slight pink evident on her smooth cheeks.

"Ah, anyway, I have 10 minutes left, do you want to talk about anything? I'm really sorry about just now, so let's make up for the lost time just now." She said, smiling.

_Talk about something, _I told myself. I sighed, I'm never a good conversation partner. I wrecked my brain in panic, searching for something to say. Besides, this presents me with a good opportunity to get to know her better, so I could know what relevant topics I could start a conversation to her about the next time I met her.

"Miku-chan, what do you plan to do after graduating?" I said half-hesitantly, since I didn't know what to say anymore.

"Well… I'm not really sure actually, I think I might take a business course in university, I'm not really sure what university I want to go too though. How about you Kagamine-kun?" she asked again, with such natural confidence in her, that she was able to keep the ball rolling in a conversation with no struggle at all.

"Erm, I was thinking of taking medicine in Todai*, well I know it sounds impossible but well… It's just a childhood dream anyway. So it's not really that important to me I guess. Anywhere would be fine for university." I said.

"Don't say that! Every dream is worthwhile chasing!" Miku replied with such great determination and force, but still maintained her grace and elegance.

"But you know, it's impossible." I said solemnly, "I'll never make it to Todai." I continued.

"Well it's worth a shot, you won't know if it works out or not if you don't try." She said, "If you set your heart to it, and work hard to achieve it, I'm sure you'll be able to get into Todai, nothing in this world comes by easy you know."

I stayed silent for a while. Yeah, I've been putting some effort to achieve my dream, it's just that… I'm just too embarrassed to talk about it, so I just brush it away whenever any conversation touches that topic. But she's right I guess, I've got to set my heart to it, and not think of it as just an unreachable dream. It's something that I can do and something that I will achieve, if I put in my heart and soul into it.

"So… Kagamine-kun, have you been involving yourself in relationships?" Miku-chan asked me.

"Wha-?" I responded, wide mouthed, my face reddening.

"Ah, sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I just wanted to tell you that balancing studies and relationships is a huge challenge, so unless you're really sure you could handle the tussle of school and the deep commitment a relationship needs, then that's the right time to start a relationship."

"Umm… Why are you telling me this? I-I don't have a girlfriend." I said awkwardly, well I know she's trying to help but still… it's just _weird _for her to say that all of a sudden.

"Well, I'm really sorry, I thought Gumi-chan was your girlfriend. You guys seem so excited splashing together in the pond on the first day I thought the two of you were a couple. Well, it's my mistake, sorry for the misunderstanding." She said, and continued to finish sipping up the last few droplets of her iced tea.

What? I laughed to myself, how on earth would I ever date Gumi, that loud-mouthed tomboy. The idea of holding her hand is just so alien to me it's ridiculous. Although on the first day we _might _have seemed like a couple, splashing around in that icy pond, so anyone who could've seen us would obviously take us for a pair of students merrily splashing about in the pond with the one they like.

"Yeah, yeah it's okay…" I said sheepishly, to which Miku smiled.

We had a light-hearted conversation, for a while after that, Miku-chan managing to loosen up the atmosphere, and for that few moments I felt comfortable talking to her, mostly small talk, but that was good enough. I really enjoyed myself though. I felt bad for her though, having to take up so much energy for her to just try to initiate and keep a conversation going. I guess she didn't really like the eerie awkward silence as well. But then she started talking about music and that led on to instruments and somehow the conversation ended up on guitar and I was really engaged in the conversation with her. I felt really happy that she displayed so much interest in my guitar, she kept asking questions about it, and I was happy to answer. Well, at least she knew what I was interested in. Oh yeah, I told her that when she asked me what club I wanted to join on the first day. Of course she knew. Then we just kept going on and on with the conversation, but then I saw her get fidgety, as if she was trying to hide something from me, but also still stay polite and not interrupt the conversation.

"Hey, um.. I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" I asked, her.

"Nah, it's not… Sorry, but I have to go now." She bowed her head slightly, and began to look through her handbag.

"Yeah… Um… Sure, thanks for the treat senpai." I thanked her shyly.

"No problem, but like I said, you can just call me Miku-chan." She remarked.

"Uhh, sorry." I apologised awkwardly.

"Anyway, could you help teach me play the guitar or something? Well not now, Mid-years are coming soon and we're supposed to be studying, but is summer break fine with you? I've always wanted to try my hands on a guitar, well it's more of like trying something new, but still, it seems really interesting!" she said, but then she looked outside the glass window and waved to someone outside.

I didn't realize who she was waving to at first, but then it dawned upon me. A dark haired boy stood outside, looking through his phone, and also stealing glances in our direction. He was wearing a chequered pullover, and a pair of grey skinny fit jeans, hugging his lean legs tightly. It was Shion-senpai.

The door to the restaurant opened and he walked in briskly, and stopped by at our table.

"Ah, so you're here Miku-chan. Sorry I didn't see you guys just now." Shion-senpai said, then he turned to me "Kagamine-kun, how have you been, long time no see."

"Yeah I'm fine… I'll be able to go back to training next week, it's been a while." I replied, trying to fit in with the cheerful atmosphere of the couple.

"You're late Kaito-kun." Miku said teasingly to Shion-senpai who laughed slightly and apologised.

"Well, how are you going home Kagamine-kun?" Shion-senpai asked me, while he held Miku-chan's hand as she stood up from her seat.

"Well, I'm taking the bus from here I guess. I have nothing to do after this anyway, so I guess I'll just go home."

"Oh, then we can walk to the bus station together, we're heading towards the city. Our bus is coming in five minutes, so we'd better make a move now." He said.

I nodded, and the three of us left the restaurant, walking along the pavement towards the bus stop. Kanayama Station just opposite the road has already become packed, the lunch hour rush already began to show signs of its daily appearance. I walked behind while Shion-senpai and Miku-chan walked ahead, linking arms. They seemed like a really close couple, talking and laughing with each other. At one point Miku even rested her head against Shion-senpai's shoulders. I felt my heart beating furiously and I looked away, leaving the couple to enjoy each other's company in private without the need to worry about prying eyes. Prying eyes like mine.

We were a few metres away from the bus station, when we could see a bus, further along the street making its way towards the stop. Miku and Shion-senpai quickened their steps, and as the bus drew nearer and nearer, Shion-senpai ended up dragging Miku-chan along while half-sprinting. Well, through my observation, I realised Miku-chan got tired really easily… maybe it's just stamina. They reached the bus stop just in time, and managed to get on the bus, but just before boarding, Miku-chan turned around and waved at me.

I smiled weakly and waved back. The bus took off, and when the bus passed me, I could see the interior of the bus for a moment. From just a glance, I could see Miku-chan and Shion-senpai, seated together on one of the pairs of seats. Miku was seated in the outer seat, Shion-senpai on the seat closer to the window. And for a moment I could see Miku-chan grin, displaying a shiny row of pearly white teeth. I don't know why, it's just that her smile… there's something about that that tugs at my heartstrings. It's just so enchanting, I find.

I reached the empty bus stop, and looked at the scheduled timings for the bus arrivals. The bus heading towards the terminal wouldn't come in fifteen minutes, so I had plenty of time. I watched in the distance as the green-striped bus headed towards the city centre get engulfed into the complex maze of trees, buildings and traffic before finally disappearing behind some distant bend behind a towering office building. That's when I felt the small tinge of sadness in some small corner of my heart. Well, it's not a small corner of my heart now, for the whole fifteen minutes I spent thinking about how Miku-chan and Shion-senpai are so happy with each other, and how they're all so happy dating. What a fool I am, I shouldn't have felt so excited when I saw her all dressed up at the North Entrance just a few moments back. It was all for Shion-senpai's sake. Of course, what do I expect, he's her boyfriend. Of course she'll look her best to go on a date with her boyfriend. And I could see that they love each other very much. I sighed. I'm such a loser, being hyped out all over nothing. My hunch was right after all, she did have a date with Shion-senpai. But why am I feeling like this? I have nothing to do with this, so why am I acting as if I were so deeply involved in this matter?

The bus pulled over, and I boarded, found an empty seat and just sat down. I looked outside the window blankly, and that was when I realised it. Everything now all made sense, my feelings, how I'm sometimes sad, overly-excited or even awkward whenever I interact with Miku-chan. It all makes sense now, all the dots in the picture are now finally connected. I couldn't believe it, but the truth is just staring at me in the face, eye to eye.

I have fallen for Miku-chan.


	7. Chapter 7

The three of us were seated in the cafeteria for lunch. It was break, and the cafeteria was packed with students. I slowly opened the cover of my lunchbox, and peered into it, looking at its contents. I sighed. It has been the same thing since a few days ago, some rice, vegetables and some _karaage_ smothered with a good amount of soya sauce and mayonnaise. Mom said that she didn't have time to shop for groceries so we just had to make do with what supplies we had left in the kitchen. Apparently she found a whole packet of unopened frozen _karaage,_ and she has been packing lunchboxes for us with it ever since. The other day was _karaage _with _tare _sauce, then yesterday was _karaage_ with teriyaki sauce. It's not like I don't appreciate her food, it's just that I'm not in the mood to eat a lot lately, I've lost my appetite over the past few days. It's been almost a week ever since that fateful Saturday. I closed my lunchbox, and decided that I won't eat lunch today either.

"Hey, Len-kun, are you going to eat your lunch or not? Look at me, my mom doesn't even bother packing bento for me; you should at least appreciate the food she gives you. If not, you can give it to me!" Gumi-chan said jokingly.

"Yeah, you can have it, I'm fine." I said apathetically.

Gumi was taken aback, as I pushed my still-untouched lunchbox across the table to her. She looked at me strangely and slowly pushed my black lunchbox away from her. She shook her head slowly, refusing my lunch.

"What's wrong Len-kun? You've been acting strange lately, it's so not _you_ to not wolf down on your food every lunchtime… Is there something bugging you? You should eat you know, it's not good for you to be skipping lunch for days… You wouldn't be able to concentrate in class later. Mid-years are in two weeks' time, mind you." She chided.

"Yeah whatever, you can have it. I'm giving it to you, seriously, I'm okay." I said in a gloomy tone, and looked away.

Anybody could have simply deduced that I was just lying through my teeth.

"Well, if it's okay with you then… _Ittadakimas!"_ Gumi said cheerfully, seemingly unbothered to whether she was convinced if I was okay or not.

I turned around and glanced at Rin, who was sitting beside me. All this while she was silently watching us, while eating her lunch. I looked away again, staring into empty air. In the background I could hear Gumi and Rin holding a conversation. I sighed. I am hungry after all. I am just too stubborn to admit that there's nothing wrong and it's no use being down over issues that don't even concern me. I mean, well… I know I might have a liking towards Miku-chan, but it's none of my business to feel sad about her and Shion-senpai being in a relationship. And a close and happy one too, adding to that. But, it's hard to explain…

"Hey, Len-kun. Look here!" Gumi called.

I turned around, and cocked my head to the side a little.

"Wha-" I tried to say.

Suddenly, she stuffed a piece of _karaage _into my open mouth with a pair of chopsticks. I looked back at her with surprise, and her blush changed into a wide smile. Our eyes met for a moment, but I averted my gaze as my face flushed beetroot.

"Well, I thought you would be hungry so if you won't eat it yourself, looks like I'll have to feed you then!" Gumi said jokingly, but I could sense the deep concern she felt for me hidden beneath that cheerful jest.

I bit the deep-fried piece of chicken, blanketed in mayonnaise and sauce slowly, letting the oil and juice ooze into my mouth. I chewed slowly, before finally swallowing it. I felt slightly relieved, but I was still hungry, and my stomach was growling. Gumi offered me another piece of _karaage_, pinning it between the pair of chopsticks, but I refused, laughing nervously, for I realised some people were staring at us. I tried to pay attention in the morning, but I only mananged to copy down some notes and nearly slept through the rest of the time. I was lucky Sakine-sensei didn't realise, or maybe she did, and just wasn't bothered by it.

"Gumi-chan, how much did you get for the Biology test?" Rin-chan said, out of the blue.

"Well, not really that great, I barely passed." Gumi replied.

That was all I caught of their conversation, because soon after that I was just caught up in my own thoughts, oblivious to the outside world. Soon enough, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch break. Gumi passed the empty lunchbox over to me, and with a smile, thanked me for it.

"It's such a waste you didn't eat it, your mom's cooking is really nice!" she added.

The three of us then got up from our seats, joining dozens of others who are now scurrying about, rushing to get back to their respective venues to proceed on with lessons as per normal. We managed to squeeze through the main stairwell leading to the third floor on the classroom block, although it was really full of students going in both directions, heading for lessons and others heading for lunch. It was a relief after we exited the stairwell and walked along the corridor, which was rather empty compared to the stairwell, as a matter of fact. It's probably because they're not many classes on the third floor, just a few first years; the rest of the level consists of mainly labs and club rooms, which are usually empty during lesson time. The labs on the other hand, are frequently used for science lessons. We walked some classrooms, and finally we reached the front of Rin and Gumi's classroom, with the door still open. We uttered our farewells, and we then went off to our respective classes. Although not before the three of us agreed to wait at the front entrance after club to go home together.

The lesson went on as planned, although by the time I reached my classroom, Sakine-sensei was already there, but fortunately I wasn't late as classes start five minutes after the bell rings. Most of the other students were already in class, mostly talking amongst themselves, while Sakine-sensei busied herself marking and sorting out some papers she has on her table. But everyone continued on with the proper lessons once the second ball rang, everyone rushing back to their seats, and standing up to greet Sakine-sensei. The lesson was about History, boring, old History, but albeit my hunger I managed to pull through, for the sake of studying for mid-terms. At least I managed to grasp the essence of the lesson, and I didn't fall asleep.

School ended and after changing into sports attire, I slowly trudged my way towards the stadium steps.

_Forget about it Len, just forget about it_, I told myself. Every step I took felt heavy. But today, something felt different, my right arm felt heavy. I looked and I realised I was dragging along my shoe bag from the lockers without noticing all this while. When I was lost in my thoughts while taking it out of my locker, I accidentally and unintentionally carried my shoe bag along to the stadium steps, instead of changing shoes on the spot. I sighed, well, since I'm nearly there, I might as well change shoes there, right before training.

I reached the stadium steps, and I saw that Miku-chan was already marking attendance, seated alone on the stadium steps, ticking and crossing out names while everyone else was already starting their schedules. She looked up from her clipboard when she heard my trudging footsteps, and our eyes met. I averted my gaze.

"Ah, Kagamine-kun, you're five minutes late, did anything happen?" she asked.

"Oh-" I said, continuing to look at the ground, "I was held back by some teachers for some stuff." I continued, not telling her the truth that I just took a really long time to get to the stadium steps because of my slow pace.

"Kagamine-kun, are you okay? You look pale and tired, is everything all right?" she asked, with concern glowing in her aqua eyes.

"Ah, it's okay… I just didn't eat lunch."

"Why? Lunch is important you know?" Miku-chan said.

I hesitated. Well… I couldn't say that I was in a low mood after seeing her so happy with her boyfriend that I didn't feel like eating lunch could I? I gulped.

"We-well… I… I kind of forgot to bring my lunch today…" I mumbled.

"Oh, okay, poor you." She said, in that caring tone she'd always had, turned around and dissapeared into the club storage room behind the stadium steps.

I sat down, took out the shiny lime green shoes from the shoe bag, and undid my laces. I slowly slipped them on, and put my school shoes into the bag. My stomach was growling and I felt like I had no energy. I saw the other track members doing their rounds for their specific events, and I sighed. I didn't feel like running today, because I was just so hungry and tired. Suddenly, I felt my back being tapped with something.

I turned around, and saw Miku-chan smiling and handing me a cyan-coloured lunchbox. I looked at the lunchbox, and then looked up at her again. When she realised I was looking at her, she nodded her head shyly. She looked really sweet.

"Here, Kagamine-kun," she said, "It's not really much, but I have some leftover _tempura _from lunch. You can have them, you need the energy for training later."

On seeing my hesitation, she continued, "Ah, I haven't touched the other half of the egg rolls so it's perfectly fine for you to have it!"

I tried to refuse, but my words were stuck in my vocal cord, which for some reason decided to jam. My heart was thumping hard in my chest.

"Yeah, so just remember to return the lunchbox to me later!" she said cheerfully and as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared behind the stadium steps, presumably into the club storage room, leaving me there alone on the stadium steps.

I sat there, the other members probably didn't see me, and were going on with their routines as scheduled. I slowly opened the cover of the cyan lunchbox, decorated with leek-shaped prints alternating with fluffy white clouds. Inside, was a neat row of golden deep-fried _tempura_, a prawn, and two pieces of eggplant. All were coated with a thick-layer of crumbs and were yellowish-brown. With my bare-hands, I took a piece of fried eggplant, and bit into it quietly. It was rather stale, I'll have to say, but I continued to bite into it and soon both eggplants I have already consumed. The same went for the prawn, but I'd admit I found it a little too salty by the first bite. Maybe it's because mom rarely cooks salty food, and I've never liked salty food anyway but I just swallowed it all, since I was hungry anyway. I closed the lunchbox, then got up from my seat. I had to look for Miku-chan to give it back to her… but in the end I decided to just keep it in my lunchbox first, since I'll see her later so I guess I'll return it to her afterwards.

"Kagamine-san! What are you doing there? Stop lazing around!" Shion-senpai said jokingly.

"Ah- Sorry." I said, and I went off in an instant to the track and started a few rounds of warm-up runs along the entire length of the track.

I finally finished my rounds and was all sweaty. It was just a warm-up so I'm not really tired. Shion-senpai always told us to drink a little water after warm-ups so that our energy could recover faster and to keep ourselves hydrated so I went up to the water cooler near the bathroom at the stadium steps to soothe my burning throat, I've ran the last stretch really fast and that made me quite thirsty. I had just finished drinking when I heard Shion-senpai call me. I turned around, and saw my dark-haired senior walk briskly towards me. Beside him was Miku-chan, holding her clipboard close to her chest, walking at a slower pace than Shion-senpai. Soon, both of them stood side by side, directly in front of me, both being taller than me.

"Kagamine-san, we were thinking of signing you up as the school hurdler for the Prefecturals. Are you okay with that?" Shion-senpai asked.

"Uhh… But I don't think I'm good enough for Prefecturals yet, after all, I haven't been to a week's worth of training… So maybe not, I'm sorry." I refused their offer.

"But you're making quite good time! So, we thought we could send your name in. Anyway, it'll be nearing the end of summer so there'll be plenty of time to improve on your speed." He said again, rubbing the back of his dark blue hair with his right hand.

On seeing my hesitation, Miku-chan stepped forward slightly, our faces were only about half a metre apart, and I could see my small reflection in her shiny but tense aqua eyes.

"Well, we're having a vacant spot for the Hurdles event, since our main participant for Hurdles has a three month medical leave because of an accident, and you're the only other hurdler we have tournament-ready. Well not exactly, but still, you're quite good. I mean, you might be missing out some training but you've done some catching up pretty fast. But, we're still looking based on your warm-up timings, since we haven't been able to see you run the full course of a hurdles set-up yet." Miku-chan said, gently yet seriously.

" So what do you say, Kagamine-san?" Shion-senpai asked.

"Okay… I'll take part in it." I said reluctantly, yet I tried to hide it since they were both desperate looking for people to fill up the gap, but mostly because Miku-chanwas talking to me.

"Thank you very much Kagamine-san, you've saved us quite some deal of trouble!" Shion-senpai said cheerfully, and rustled my hair with his hand jokingly.

Miku-chan gave a little nod with her head, to show her thanks, and also smiled sweetly. The tenseness in her eyes are gone, and I could tell that she was heavily relieved. She bowed slightly, and the two of them then left, heading towards the track, to supervise the other members on the track.

I left for the storage room to take out some hurdles, like how Shion-senpai told me on Monday's training. Well since now I'm the only one in Hurdles; I'll have to train all by myself. There used to be some other guy, but I didn't really catch his name, and we didn't talk much anyway. But since he's on a three-month leave, I'm left all alone now. I didn't mind so much, since there were always other people to talk to within the entire club anyway. Well I've never actually been to the storage room, usually the other guy would have had everything set up.

I walked a fair bit until I reached the closed doors of the club storage room, just around the corner from the water cooler. I grabbed and tried to press down the metal door handle, but the heavy green door was tightly shut. I wrenched the steel surface tightly yet it still wouldn't budge. Switching arms, I nudged it again, but in the end, the only thing I've managed to get were tired arms and burnt, sweaty palms. Then after noticing the small keyhole below the handle I realised that it might have been locked. Looks like I've got to get back to the track and find Shion-senpai, he might have the key to the storage room.

When I got back to the track, I could see Shion-senpai and Miku-chan sitting on the steps, engaged in a conversation. From a distance, I could already see Shion-senpai gesturing excitedly, and Miku-chan giggling slightly, her shoulders shaking slightly. They seem to be having a light chit-chat. I don't know why they're just sitting there though; I presumed they had just came back after supervising the other club members while they train. I trudged slowly towards the two, feeling slightly embarrassed. I came up from behind them, but they were too distracted with the conversation to notice my presence.

"Uhh…" I started off draggily, "Um."

Both of them stopped talking and turned around and looked at me, curiously.

"Yeah? What is it Kagamine-san?" the dark blue-haired senior asked.

I gulped, it was really awkward.

"Erm, I'm sorry for interrupting but, do you have the keys to the club storage room? I think it's locked." I asked nervously.

Miku-chan and Shion-senpai looked at each other. I could see the confusion in their eyes and inquisitive looks written on their faces.

"Well, I have the key right here," Miku-chan held up the jingling keys to show me "But I don't remember locking the storage room door… I didn't right, Kaito-kun?" she continued.

"I don't think so… That's strange, if you didn't lock the door, then who did?" Shion-senpai said, obviously surprised.

"Well, since it's locked, I might as well help you unlock it, we were wondering what took you so long." Miku-chan said, "Besides I've got to get something from my bag too." She continued.

"Well I'll go too!" Shion-senpai, said, and stood up instantly, making Miku-chan giggle a little.

The three of us went over to the big green doors of the storage room. Miku-chan fumbled around with the chain of keys she has in her pocket, well she's the head prefect, so I guess she has the keys to a lot of rooms in the school. She settled on a pointy, copper jagged-edged one and inserted it slowly into the keyhole. She twisted it around a few times, but then suddenly broke into stuttering giggles softly. She pushed the door open, and there was the training equipment, all stacked in the corner of the room, near were two bags, one was a large black back pack, while the other was a smaller turquoise rucksack with brownish-grey accents.

"Well Kagamine-kun," Miku-chan turned around and looked at me, "It's not locked." She continued, but I could see what little ridicule she found from my stupidity was gone already by now.

"Yeah, you're supposed to just simply push the door open, Kagamine-san." Shion-senpai chided, and smacked the back of my head with his hand playfully.

I slowly laughed at myself in my mind. I realised I've only been pulling the door just now, the idea of attempting to open the door by pushing it open did not even once cross my mind. How stupid of me.

"Ah, don't be so mean to him!" Miku-chan said to Shion-senpai, who laughed and apologised to the both of us, although I didn't take offense in the first place.

I went into the room with Miku-chan and dragged out the hurdles one by one and set them outside. Shion-senpai offered me his help, and I agreed and thanked him. Miku shut the door after I finished taking out all the required equipment, eight hurdles in total. Apparently, the only thing she needed from her bag was an extra pen from her pencil case, since the pen she was using just now ran out of ink. She didn't lock the room door this time either.

I walked in front while Shion-senpai and Miku-chan walked beside each other behind, when we reached the track, we arranged the hurdles on the lane; I took the fifth lane, since we usually used that lane for hurdles training, although we could actually choose any lane we want. We took about four trips back and forth from the storage room, I was fortunate that Shion-senpai offered his help, because if I were to do it alone, I would need to have taken eight trips in total. Miku-chan followed us on the first two trips, talking to Shion-senpai, but somehow while I was setting up the fourth hurdle, Miku-chan told Shion-senpai to go on, and she has to check on the other club members. When she walked past me she smiled, did a thumbs up, and said that she'll be back.

As soon as the last hurdle was in place, Shion-senpai told me to wait for a moment, while goes off to get Miku-chan from the other side of the track. I sat down on the warm, red, rubber surface, my legs spread out in front of me, while I watch Shion-senpai walking towards Miku-chan in the distance.

It sighed deeply, it really reminded me of training on Monday and Wednesday. Miku-chan and Shion-senpai were sticking together a lot too, in fact, almost all the time. I rarely see them apart. All the trainings seem to be the time where Shion-senpai and Miku-chan spend their precious moments together. It's really depressing for me to watch them so happy being with each other, I just can't. It's so painful, my heart aches. I must admit though, somehow, I feel more attracted to Miku-chan with every minute I get to see her. I get butterflies in my stomach and my heart beats faster whenever she's close. Even when Shion-senpai is there, I've even tried to discourage myself from continuing to like her, since she has a boyfriend and all, and they're really happy together… but no, apparently my heart has a mind of its own. I really do have a huge liking towards Miku-chan. She's beautiful, in both physical form and character, and what really hits me, the finishing, defining blow, is how caring she is towards other people, and how she always puts other people feelings forward instead of hers. I just wish I could feel her warm breath on my face and rub my hands on her smoothe…

No Len, no. I slapped myself rather lightly, luckily nobody saw me do it or they'll think I'm some weird kid. I took a deep breath. No matter how much I like her, I'm not going to be some pervert and keep thinking dirty thoughts about her, it's gross thinking myself as some pervert fantasising about weird things. No, no ,no.

I sat there, looking at her walking together with Shion-senpai. I sighed, well I guess Miku-chan will never love me… What for? She already has such a nice, amazing boyfriend who cares for her and spends so much time with her. They seem to have a bright future together anyway. He's got more looks than me also. On the other hand I'm just some kid who always gets disappointed in himself, gives up easily and is too shy to socialize with other people. Well… Maybe if I asked Gumi-chan for advice then it could help… since she really knows how to get along with people well, like how she's able to make friends easily when we've just met on the first day, and how she's always able to hold a conversation with Mom every time she comes over. Besides, we have cram school tonight so I'll be meeting her later.

I got up when I saw Miku-chan and Shion-senpai get closer to me. I stretched my legs, they were getting a bit tired from all that walking back and forth. Miku-chan looked at me, stopwatch in hand, and nodded. Shion-senpai has a whistle in his mouth, so I readied myself for action. I bent down, getting myself into the ready position. Although it was just a practice, I was rather nervous, since both Shion-senpai and Miku-chan were watching and timing me for it. My legs were actually rather shaky at first, nevertheless I steeled myself and managed to calm myself down.

The sharp, loud sound of the whistle penetrated the air and soon I was up, with a burst of energy, sprinted across the few metres before the first hurdle, and leaped, spreading my legs, and landing yet not long after I had to leap again, as hurdle after hurdle came nearer towards me. I could feel the slight cool afternoon breeze in the air rushing into my face. Finally I jumped over the last hurdle, then with another forced burst of energy I sprinted all the way to the finishing line.

My legs were killing me and my groin was aching due to all that wide spreading of my legs to jump over all those hurdles. I turned around, and looked at my seniors. I was still panting and short of breath, and I was sweating profusely. I guess all that going back and forth from the storage room drained some good deal of energy, and especially since I didn't have a proper lunch in the first place.

"That wasn't that bad!" Shion-senpai said, praising me after the whole practice run.

"Yeah, your timing is rather good," Miku-chan said, looking at her stopwatch in her hand, "If you work harder and don't give up, I'm sure you'll be able to make it- I mean improve, sorry." She continued, accidentally stumbling on her words.

Hmm. I grinned to myself. Don't give up huh? That's right, I've only started liking Miku-chan for only a few days now, so I'm not really sure if it's just hormones or it's true feelings, so I guess, I'll just wait until I get to know and understand her better and maybe this feeling might just go away. On the other hand, it might develop into something deeper… Unrequited love. So I shouldn't just be discouraged now, perhaps for once, I should let my heart go freely instead of forcing myself to give up on her. Well, I've got nothing to lose anyway.

"Kagamine-san, did you hear me?" Shion-senpai waved at me, trying to get my attention.

"What… Sorry I didn't hear you say anything." I replied, I was too deep in thinking I probably didn't hear him say something.

"Well, I said, is another practice run okay with you? You've got to keep training you know, you've missed out a lot!" Shion-senpai chuckled.

"Sure," I replied, and slowly walked back to the starting point.

"That's it class, you may all go home now, class is dismissed." Kasane-sensei said, her pink, curly pigtails bobbing up and down when she bowed. "Be careful going home alright, don't loiter around." She advised.

Everybody bowed and slowly left the classroom, while Kasane-sensei stayed behind for a while to answer some questions some students had, dealing with them at her desk, with student showing their papers and asking questions from her. Gumi was at the back of the line, so Rin-chan and I decided to wait outside the classroom, in the emptying corridor for her.

Today's, or should I say, tonight's, subject was Literature. It was a combined session between three classes, although only a handful from each class actually came. I decided to come along too, since I had nothing much to do, and I also wanted to do some revision too, since Literature is one of my weaker subjects and needs more attention on my part. Well, I could safely say that Rin-chan and Gumi-chan's Literature grades are better than mine, but when they heard that I was going for cram school, Gumi-chan instantly said that she'll be going along without hesitation, dragging Rin-chan along, when we met just now after club activites ended. Well, it'll be the last club session for the first trimester, since club activities are suspended next week to help students prepare for the upcoming mid-terms. I anxiously stood my ground there, together with Rin-chan, to wait for Gumi-chan, and I saw at the other end of the corridor that the janitor was already starting to close down the lights from the far end, as most of the other cram classes for the other levels have also ended a while back. We waited there for a good ten minutes yet there was still no sign of her leaving that room.

Finally, after about a long fifteen minutes, Gumi finally left the classroom along with Kasane-sensei, who switched off the lights of the classroom as she walked past the doorway. Kasane-sensei looked surprised to see us.

"Ah, Kagamine-kun, Kagamine-chan, why are you still here? You were dismissed about fifteen minutes ago if I'm not wrong." She asked.

"Oh, we were just waiting for Gumi-chan, sensei!" Rin-chan cut in as I was about to open my mouth to speak.

The four of us then went off down the dim corridor, Kasane-sensei ahead, talking with Gumi-chan, while Rin-chan and went down one of the dark stairwells to the first storey.

"Ah, I'll still be in school till late, you guys be careful okay, it's already getting late." Kasane-sensei said, and bid us farewell as she departed us and walked down the corridor towards the staff room, leaving us alone in the gloomy locker-area.

It's already late, sure it is. It was already quite dark outside, as we could see from the windows. I checked my watch on my wrist, it was already 10:03. If I weren't wrong, the last bus departs the bus stop in two minutes.

"Ah, Gumi-chan, we'll better get moving now, the last bus to our place departs in two minutes!" I blurted out.

"Ha, sure. See you guys next week." Gumi-chan said calmly, as me and Rin left in a hurry.

I grabbed Rin-chan's arm, who yelped in surprise, and pulled her along with me, half stumbling and half sprinting across the courtyard towards the gate. The cool night breeze blew into us, but we were in a half-panicked frenzy to even bother about it. I managed to grab the cold metal bars of the school gate, and was about to yank it open, when Rin-chan tugged at my arm repeatedly.

"What?" I turned around, slightly irritated.

"I dropped my phone." Rin-chan said.

"We have no time for that now!" I yelled at her, feeling really pissed.

"But it's my phone! I'll need to go and get it!" Rin-chan retaliated.

"Fine, whatever! I'll leave you then!" I shouted at her, and pushed the gate open.

"Wait, please! It's just over there!" Rin-chan said, whimpering, and pointing to a spot on the courtyard not far away, "You can't just leave me alone!" she continued.

I let go of her arm, and leaned restlessly on the gate, while Rin-chan ran off into the darkness frantically. When I squinted my eyes I could see her faint silhouette bending down and picking up her phone on the ground. She turned around, and I could see her face illuminated by the distant brightness of the street lights. Her cerulean eyes frantically searched for me, for she was scared to be left alone in the darkness.

As soon as she came running back, the both of us burst through the school gates, and ran at full speed down the brightly-lit sidewalk. The bus stop was just around the corner, we might just be able to make it in time. We both sped around the corner, and I nearly stumbled and fell due to the sharp and sudden turn. I looked up, the bus stop was just ahead…

And our ticket home had just taken off. I could see the blue-striped bus speeding down the straight and yellow-tinted road, eventually disappearing after turning a corner.

I sighed. That's it. What were we supposed to do now then?

Rin-chan and I both sat down on the perch bench, idly staring into street. On the horizon towards the south, the sky was bright and alive with the glow of the blinding lights of downtown Nagoya. Besides, the harbour was there too. There weren't any stars in the sky, typical of urban night skies.

Well, I guess we could take a taxi, but looking at the time now, I don't think there would be any taxis running on the streets in the area, all the taxis were usually in the heart of the city now. Especially sinc it's the end of the week, and the taxi drivers usually take advantage of this time to pick up club goers for an extra profit, since drink driving is banned. Besides, I don't think I have enough money for a taxi fare from here to our house, even if I'd combined my money with Rin-chan.

"Well, what do we do now Len?" Rin asked softly, swinging her legs slowly in the air.

"I don't know, maybe we can ask Dad to pick us up I guess." I replied casually.

"Did you forget, he just left for Tokyo this morning." Rin-chan snapped.

Oh yes, I totally forgot. Dad had left on a three-day business trip to Tokyo, so that eliminates the option of calling him and asking him to fetch us. The car's still there, but Mom can't drive. I looked at my watch, we've been sitting here for about two minutes, not knowing what to do, or where to go. We were at a loss on what to do.

"Hey guys, you're still here?"

I turned around, and saw Gumi-chan walk up to us from the sidewalk.

"The bus left without us, so… yeah." I said awkwardly.

"Oh, okay. My bus is coming soon. So how are you gonna get home?" Gumi-chan asked, concerned, as she sat down on the perch bench beside us.

"Well… I don't know." I replied.

By this time, Rin was already starting to worry. I could already see her shaking her leg and flipping through her phone restlessly. She looked at me, and then looked at Gumi-chan, who was distracted, taking out a small mirror, and adjusting her emerald green hair. I guess I haven't seen this side of Gumi. Then suddenly, Gumi looked up from the mirror, and saw me looking at her. I blushed and looked away curtly, pretending I didn't see anything.

"Ah anyway, do you two want to stay over at my place for the night? Well, my parents aren't home, they're visiting some of my relatives in Shizuoka, so it's only me and my grandmother at home, so it should be okay. It's an emergency anyway." Gumi-chan offered.

"Thanks Gumi-chan, you really are a lifesaver!" Rin-chan exclaimed happily.

"Well, what are friends for?" Gumi-chan replied.

_Well, what are friends for?_

I smiled. It reminded me of the other day when I sprained my ankle and Gumi-chan paid for my taxi fare home. She's such a nice friend, I thought to myself. Yet I still haven't repaid her kindness.

"Is that all right with you, Len-kun?" Gumi-chan called out to me.

"Yeah, thank you so much." I said , scratching the back of my head awkwardly with my left hand.

"No problem." She replied.

The bus soon arrived, and the three of us boarded it. It was empty, and we were able to find seats with no difficulty at all. I sat alone, while Gumi-chan and Rin-chan sat beind me. As the two girls chatted with each other, I stared out into the pitch-black night sky, exhaling a sigh of relief.

It was finally the end of another tiring week, and mid-terms are just around the corner now.


	8. Chapter 8

The three of us walked a fair bit from the bus stop after alighting from the bus, until we've reached the front gate of Gumi-chan's house. It was a modest two-storey with a tiled roof built in a fusion of traditional and modern architecture, not really that impressive, with a small porch in front and a bamboo grove growing on each side of the rectangular, whitewashed steel gate. The lights in the living room were switched on, and you could see the windows were glowing in a dim yellow-tinted light, blocked by the dark curtains that were drawn.

Gumi unlocked the gate and bided us to follow her into her front yard. We walked through the tiled porch where Gumi's parent's car should have been, she said, until we reached the front door of the house. Gumi-chan opened the door, stepped inside the raised wooden flooring, typical of Japanese houses, and held the heavy wooden door open for us.

"Please, come in." Gumi-chan said.

I laughed awkwardly; it was weird seeing her being all formal and proper.

"Ah, Megpoid-san you're being so proper today!" I teased Gumi-chan.

I saw Gumi-chan turn her head away, all red faced, trying to hide her embarrassment but to no avail. Suddenly I felt Rin-chan slapping my upper thigh hard. I looked at her, and I saw the daggers evident in her narrowed cerulean eyes.

"Don't be rude! She's already doing us a favour." Rin-chan scolded me.

"Ah! It's okay," Gumi said, nodding her head. "Well, come this way, I'll introduce you to my grandmother." She continued, walking ahead down the hallway after closing the door behind us.

I looked at Rin-chan, and she glared back at me, before curtly turning to look at Gumi-chan. The two of us then followed Gumi down the hallway, where after a few steps Gumi-chan opened a sliding door, and asked us to come in. Inside, there was an old lady sitting on the floor, wearing a grey wool jumper, knitting something with two long needles while watching late-night period dramas on the television. Her strands of white-gray hair were tied at the back of her head in a bun. In front of her, on the coffee table was a hot cup of tea, wafts of steam still rising from the mouth of the cup.

"_Obaa-san_, I'm back!" Gumi-chan said cheerfully at the old lady, her grandmother. "I've brought some friends with me home, they're going to be staying over tonight. They missed the bus home today." She continued.

Gumi's grandmother looked at us with worn, light green eyes for a while, before finally curving her wrinkly lips into a smile. She asked our names, and we introduced ourselves.

"Ah, Kagamine-kun, Kagamine-chan, have a seat first, I'll go prepare some more tea." She said.

"Ah, thank you very much." I said.

Gumi's grandmother left the three of us there while she went to the kitchen to make us some tea. Rin-chan and Gumi-chan made small talk, leaving me sitting there alone awkwardly. In the end I decided to send Mom an email to tell her that we'll be staying over at Gumi-chan's house for the night, just in case Rin-chan hasn't informed her yet. I was really exhausted, all that training and cram school really wore me out. I was finally looking for a good weekend's rest at home when this happened. Well, at least Gumi had the courtesy enough to offer us her place to stay over for the night since we were late for the bus waiting for _her_.

Gumi's grandmother soon came back with a tray carrying three cups of steaming hot tea. We all thanked her and took a cup each. I could feel the heat of the melamine cup on my lips but that didn't deter me anyway. After a long, hard, tiring day, a hot cup of tea actually provides some relief. I was lucky the tea wasn't made really hot and was rather lukewarm, for I might have scalded my throat with the way I drank it all in one go.

"Wow Len-kun, you finished it all really fast." Gumi remarked, looking at me with surprise.

"Uhh… Yeah. Thanks for the compliment I guess." I replied awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"Looks like you really like tea. Anyway, I should be preparing supper now." Gumi's grandmother said. "Gumi, why don't you go show them where they'll be sleeping tonight." She continued, before disappearing into the kitchen.

There was an awkward moment of silent between the three of us when suddenly Gumi got up and told us to follow her. We walked out of the room, carrying our bags, into the hallway. She led the both of us up the stairs to the second storey, where we came across another narrow hallway, sliding doors closed shut on either sides. Gumi went up to the first room on the right, and slid the door open. Inside was a vacant room, on one side was a single bed, wedged against the wall, with its sheets neatly tucked. The other pieces of furniture in there were a dark, oaken, ancient-looking chest of drawers and also a desk on the other side of the room. On the wall opposite the side of the bed was a door. It wasn't a sliding door like most of the other doors I'd seen in the house, but it was a normal modern door, made of shiny, shiny polished ochre wood, complete with a bronze doorknob.

"You guys can sleep here. This is my brother's room, but currently he's in first year of university in Kyoto, so he's not staying with us currently. I'll get some tatami mats, since there's only one bed." Gumi said, and sat down on the bed. "Oh yes, the door over there leads to the bathroom, but it's shared between my room and this room so remember to lock both doors okay? We wouldn't want anything _embarrassing _to happen right?" she continued with a laugh, and looked at me mischievously.

Gumi and Rin continued to laugh. Well, finally, she was back to normal, cracking jokes and stuff. Just the usual her, the Gumi that we were so familiar with.

"Anyway, I'll go and bathe now. If you need anything, you can ask my grandma." Gumi said, and disappeared into the corridor.

Rin and I went up to the bed, and sat there. We put our heavy bags down and awkwardly sat there in silence. This was weird. Rin doesn't seem to be in the mood to talk to me today, maybe something happened in school. Thinking back, she was always like this around me, probably because she knows that I'm no use at small talk, and it's just a waste of time talking to me if there isn't something important, or I have no interest in whatever topic to be discussed. Unfortunately, we share no common interests or hobbies, and hence for Rin to talk to me without boring herself, the chance would be very slim. So we just sat there looking at our own phones for a while, until Gumi-chan came back after her bath.

"Ah, you're still here? I thought you took a bath already." She said.

"Weren't you in the bath?" I asked her back.

"Oh yes, I was at the bathroom downstairs, I forgot to tell you about it. So you guys wouldn't need to wait to get into the bath." She said. "I'll go get you both some clothes, so why don't both of you take a bath first?" Gumi continued.

"Sure, thanks." I said.

"It's okay, I'll go help you and your grandma make dinner! I can have my bath later." Rin suddenly cut in.

"Ah, thank you!" Gumi replied, and the both of them left, leaving me alone in the room.

I sighed. Well, I guess there's nothing for me to do now other than getting into the bath. I got up from the bed and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind me. The strong scent of lavender greeted me as I entered, I chuckled to myself. It was just so… Gumi. Obviously she had sprayed the bathroom with air freshener, in her enthusiasm to be a good host, probably feeling guilty we missed the bus because of her.

The bathtub was already filled with water, so I just threw off my uniform and stepped inside. The warm water was so soothing to my aching and exhausted muscles, and I let out a sigh of relief. It felt so nice, I was just relaxed and refreshed. I scrubbed and washed my sweaty arms and legs, allowing the warmth and comfort of the water to let me forget about how tired I was after a long week. The water was staring to get colder, so I unplugged the tub and let some water out while opening the tap to replace it with warmer water. Since it was trickling so slowly at first, I kind of lost patience and opened the tap till its maximum. The room was filled with the loud sound of water gushing and splashing into the bathtub. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Len-kun, I've brought you your clothes…" was all I could hear, the sound of the water was too blaring.

Oh yes, my fresh new change of clothes for the night. I totally forgot about them while I was so absorbed in the comfort of the warm bath. The fact that I weren't wearing any either also didn't register in my mind at that time. Big mistake.

I opened the door.

"Ah, thanks Gumi-chan!" I said, still dripping wet.

"You're welco…" she replied, and suddenly she froze.

I looked at her curiously, when I realized her gaze was looking downwards. Suddenly, she dropped the pile of folded clothes and towel she was carrying and shrieked hysterically before slamming the door shut in my face with such brute force.

Only then I realized it, but by then it was too late. I choked with embarrassment and I could feel my cheeks redden. I calmed myself down, and returned to the bath, huddling myself against the cold walls of the bathtub and buried my face in between my knees. Gosh, what was I thinking? Now what do I do? We're going to have dinner later together, what am I going to say to her. How stupid am I to just open the door stark naked like that?

I think I stayed there for about five long minutes, until I finally decided that I should join the three of them for dinner downstairs, since it'll be rude for me to keep them waiting so long. The food might go cold anyway. I didn't have a towel, so I felt maybe Gumi-chan brought one along when she came up just now. I reached for the door, grabbing the cold metal knob. My heart beat faster, thumping in my chest. I took a deep breath. Hopefully she's not there now. I opened the door slowly and I barely managed to grab the pile of clothes when I heard the sliding door to the room about sliding open, which forced me to quickly pull them inside the bathroom with me and slam the door shut as quickly as possible.

As soon as I did that, I heard voices in the room outside. I draped the white soft towel around me, covering myself, just in case. I didn't want any repetition of _that._

Suddenly Rin's voice called out, "Len-kun, the food is ready! Better come downstairs quick."

"Yeah I'm coming!" I replied, instantly swiping my wet torso with the towel.

I looked at the pile of folded clothes I brought into the bathroom with me. I unfolded a light-blue t-shirt and tried it on. I slid into it and looked in the mirror. It didn't take me long enough to see that the shirt was slightly big for me, falling all the way to my groin, but at least the white shorts I tried on next were knee-length, at least balancing out the effect of the oversized shirt. I looked decent at least, in my opinion. With the towel, I tussled my damp hair dry, and got out of the steaming bathroom into the cooler bedroom outside. Not knowing what to do with the towel, I folded it into a small, neat rectangle and put it on top of the chest of drawers.

When I went down to the living room, both of the girls were already helping to set up the table while Gumi's grandmother was scooping out some soup into each of the four small bowls. I offered them my help, but Rin-chan told me sarcastically that I came down too late to be of any help, and just instructed me to sit down at the dining table.

After a while, the four of us soon sat around the table, the hot steaming dishes laid out in front of us. Rin and I seated on one side, opposite Gumi and her grandmother. Rin-chan and Gumi's grandmother started to engage in small talk while I sat there awkwardly, trying not to make eye contact with Gumi, who was also sitting there in silence.

I picked up the spoon and started to drink the hot soup, sipping spoonful by spoonful. It wasn't much and I finished it in a few short minutes.

"Thanks for the food." I said, and picked up my utensils and placed them in the sink in the kitchen.

"Ah, Kagamine-kun, you don't want anymore? There's still a lot of it you know?" Gumi's grandmother asked me.

"No thank you," I said, "I'll be going up now." And I left, closing the sliding door behind me.

I went up the stairs and went back to the bedroom assigned to us. I slowly slid open the door, and switched on the lights. I threw myself on the bed, stuffing my face into the fluffy pillow. I groaned at myself, I was still starving, but well… I couldn't stand the embarrassment and awkwardness of being with Gumi-chan after knowing she saw me like that. I turned over, leaning on my right side, facing the wall. I tried to close my eyes, but well, my stomach was growling so hard it was uncomfortable and I couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried. Well, I guess I'll have to wait until I'm really tired. I looked at the digital alarm clock, it was already half-past eleven. How fast time flies. I was a nocturnal person, and I usually can stay up until 2 sometimes. The bath really rejuvenated me, and that made it harder to fall asleep too. But there was nothing to do now, so I guess I'd sleep now, to save myself the awkwardness of bumping into Gumi.

And what is up with this room? It's freezing! I looked around and saw the air conditioner on the ceiling. I guess I didn't realise it was there when I first came into the room. The temperature was pre-set, and I was too lazy to adjust it in the thermostat, so I just went under the sheets and wrapped myself in them. I tossed and turned for about a good ten minutes, almost falling asleep when suddenly I heard the door slide open.

I slowly sat up from the bed, and saw Gumi-chan peering in from the slightly opened door.

"Can I come in?" she said softly.

"Umm… Sure." I replied.

Gumi-chan slowly walked into the room and sat on the chair at the desk opposite me. She toyed with her sleeves a little, and she was blushing.

"Uhh, Len-kun… About just now… I'm sorry." She said, looking at me directly in the eyes.

"Nah, it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry I opened the door without thinking." I tried to say as calmly as possible.

"No, I was at fault, I didn't give you a towel earlier and I was the one who looked… down." She continued saying

My heart was beating faster. My hunch told me that we were gradually stepping into awkward territory.

"Well, either way it's settled then. I'm so glad we're done with this issue." I said, stretching my arms in the air.

"Yeah…" Gumi-chan said, smiling gleefully.

"Oh, and I didn't expect it to be _that_ small. They looked bigger in the diagrams in the textbook." She remarked, smiling with mischief.

My hunch was right after all. I blushed and without thinking, threw the blanket at her. She laughed and threw the blanket back at me, which missed.

"Okay, I was just joking." Gumi-chan said.

"Fine." I sighed, and picked up the blanket, and wrapping it around myself.

Then the two of us sat there in silence, not knowing what to say. I don't know, I just felt like the atmosphere between us changed ever since a few days ago. Awkward situations happened more frequently, and moments trying to find words to break the silence became the bulk of our conversation whenever we met, just the two of us, in school.

"So what do you want to do now?" Gumi-chan asked.

"Well, the mid-terms are coming soon… So if it's okay with you, we can study now if you'd like." I replied.

"Okay, just let me get both the futons here, I might fall asleep when I study." She said with a laugh, stood up from the chair and disappeared into the hallway. While she was gone, I stood up and brought my bags closer to me. My shoe bag felt strangely bulkier, so I decided to check what was inside. Surely it can't just only contain my shoes in there, looking at how bulky it was. I unzipped the bag, and the first thing I saw was the cyan-blue lunchbox. Then it hit me, I had intended to return the lunchbox to Miku-chan after training just now, but apparently in my rush to change and get to Kasane-sensei's literature seminar, I totally forgot about it. I quickly hid the lunchbox back into the bag when I heard the door open. I guess I'll return it on Monday then, but since there aren't any trainings next week, I guess I'll have to look for her then.

Gumi came in carrying two futons. She unfolded both and lay them down on the floor. It was a tight fit, but two people could sleep there. Well I guess one room would have been sufficient for the three of us to sleep in.

"Oh yes, Len-kun, could you help me with this question, I don't really understand it…" Gumi said, handing me an assessment book, flipping to a page full of Biology questions, after finishing laying down the futons.

"Okay… Let me see." I said, scanning the questions.

"Ah, thanks Len-kun! Biology is my worst subject." Gumi said, laughing.

"Don't worry, you'll get better if you read up more." I said, closing the book and handing it back to her.

We had been going through the biology book together for the past half an hour, and Rin-chan was already lying down on her futon, fiddling with her phone. After placing the assessment book aside, on the desk, Gumi sat at the side of the bed with me.

"I'm bored, do you guys want to talk? I'm not tired yet." Gumi-chan said.

"Sure." Rin-said, placing her phone aside, and then turning around to face us.

We sat there for a while, talking about any topic that came to mind. We took turns, but mostly it was Rin and Gumi talking about the latest boybands and stuff from the music scene that I couldn't really be bothered about. I lost interest, naturally, and I think I nearly nodded off when suddenly Gumi shook my forearm.

"Hey, Len, how about you?" she said.

"Err… What?" I said, still drunk from sleep.

"You know, are you in?" Gumi-chan asked.

I hesitated, rubbing my eyes, not even having the slightest idea on what the jade-haired girl was talking about.

"Like… the three of us, all together." Gumi-chan continued.

"WHAT?!" I said out loud, surprised.

Gumi-chan and Rin looked at each other with surprise. Gosh, I shouldn't have said that, what's wrong with me? I was totally thinking of it the wrong way, I mean, she couldn't have been talking about something dirty couldn't she? I blushed, and averted my gaze. Then I heard Rin-chan whispering something into Gumi's ear and then the two of them broke into snuffled giggles.

"Len-kun, you're such a pervert!" Rin exclaimed.

Gumi was laughing, and I could see she was trying to hide her embarrassment, but then managed to compose herself.

"No Len, I mean, the three of us, playing a game of Truth or Dare." She continued, all calmed down now.

"Uhh- Uhh sure." I said, stuttering, not really paying attention to anything, but since they woke me up, might as well just stay awake for a while more.

"I'll start first!" Rin said, "Dare." She continued.

"Hmm…" Gumi said, rubbing her chin, but then a mischievous grin lit up her face.

"Why don't you… Wear your shirt inside out?" Gumi said with a laugh.

"Mm." Rin mumbled in agreement, seeming really disappointed that she didn't get a more interesting dare.

Rin stood up from the futon slowly, and staggered to the bathroom door. As her hands wrenched around the cold metal knob, about to push the door open, Gumi interrupted her.

"Rin-chan, why don't you just change here? I mean, it's only me and Len…"

I blushed furiously, looking down to the futon-covered floor. _Gosh, Gumi._ That's so typical of her. There was an awkward moment of silence between the three of us until Rin-chan slowly backed away into the bathroom and closed the door slowly at first, until finally slamming it shut in our faces.

"Ugh, I don't understand her…" Gumi grumbled to herself.

"You could have at least been more sensitive!" I scolded her from atop the bed.

"But it's just you and me in the room! And besides, you're her twin brother, so I don't see anything wrong with her changing here instead of taking all that trouble to change in the bathroom!" She retaliated

"We're _sixteen_!" I shouted back, blushing in embarrassment.

"Well I thought you might like it." Gumi muttered under her breath jokingly.

"What did you say?!" I retaliated, slamming my hands down onto the mattress.

For some reason, my right hand slid off the sheets, and I fell from the bed with a crash, onto the floor below. Just missing Gumi-chan by inches. I picked myself up, and sat down, pretending nothing ever happened. I could hear Gumi-chan trying hard to hold back her laughter.

"Oh gosh Len, you're so clumsy!" she said laughing.

I looked away, ignoring her. That actually kind of worked and after a while her laughter stopped. It was just like the first day we met, how I slipped into the pond again while I tried to get up, and how she laughed at me and my clumsiness. Just then, the bathroom door opened as well.

"So… Here you go Gumi." Rin-chan said, coming out from the bathroom, and closing the door behind her. "It actually feels much smoother this way." She continued.

I looked up. Rin-chan was wearing the pastel shirt Gumi lent to her, except now, it was inside out. It didn't look any different save for the seams being visible at the shoulders and bottom.

"Well so it's your turn Gumi, what do you want to do?" I asked, trying to act normal and continue the game.

"Oh, umm… Truth." She replied after some hesitation.

I was surprised, I thought she would have taken dare.

"So… Have you ever-" I tried asking but I was cut short when Rin-chan suddenly cut in.

"Have you ever liked someone before?" Rin-chan asked energetically and excitedly, leaning forward.

"Well, no, actually." Gumi replied back curtly, to which Rin sighed in disappointment, then turned around to look at me. "Ah, Len, it's your turn now right?" she said.

"Truth." I said, I didn't want them to make me do anything stupid.

"Since Rin-chan asked me about nearly the same thing, let me ask you Len-kun… Do you like anyone?" Gumi asked jokingly.

I blushed a deep shade of beetroot. My heart beat faster. Well…

"No." I said, nervous and embarrassed. "Whatever, this is getting boring and I'm going to bed." I said, shifting my body around and started to climb up the bed.

I didn't want to answer that question, I didn't want to tell them I have a crush on a girl who's already attached, and who is taller than me and older than me. They would take me as a joke.

Unfortunately, being as clumsy as I was, I accidentally kicked my bag on the side of the bed with my foot, and being unzipped, fell down, revealing its contents partially. In the corner of my eye I saw the sharp-eyed Rin-chan crawling towards the bag; obviously something had caught her interest. I didn't think much of it at that time, I thought she was going to prop the bag up against the bed again or something, being the neat girl that she is, so I just decided to lie down on the pillow and get some rest, besides, it was already late, and not like I really fancy playing Truth or Dare in the first place. There was some silence for a while before suddenly one of the girls tapped my back. I shifted around, rose up slowly, and saw in Rin's hands, was…

Miku-chan's lunchbox.

I gulped. Gosh, what now? Weren't all those episodes of awkwardness enough already?

They looked at each other for a while, then they looked at me curiously and inquisitively.

"Len-kun, who's lunchbox is this?" Gumi asked in an interrogating tone.

"This isn't yours." Rin-chan said, although all of us in that room knew she was stating the obvious, with no other obvious purpose other than intimidate me.

"Well…" I said slowly, but in the end I choked on my own words, so I couldn't really explain myself.

By this time, both girls have already lost interest in me and were examining the cyan and leek-printed lunchbox.

"The colour looks familiar…" Rin-chan remarked.

"Yeah, it does actually, but I can't really remember where I've seen it… But the leeks though, that's a bit bizarre." Gumi-chan continued after her, looking at the foreign object.

"Give it back!" I said, and snatched it back from the both of them, and placed it back into my bag, zipped it up, and propped it up on the side of the bed. All in a matter of seconds.

"So, who does it belong to huh?" Rin-chan asked.

"Someone, it's not important." I said, pulling the blankets up. "Goodnight." I continued, lying down on my side, facing away from them.

I closed my eyes, wrapped in the blanket, while the two of them continue talking in hushed voices.

The next morning, I woke up to utter silence. I slid out of the blankets, rubbing my sleepy eyes as I got off the bed. I checked the clock on the table beside the bed, it was only a few minutes before seven. Gumi and Rin were nowhere to be seen, and the floor was cleared of the futons too. I stretched my arms, I was still tired but this is Gumi's house and it wouldn't be polite to be sleeping in her brother's bed all morning so I got out of bed. Well I wasn't surprised really about the room being empty, since Rin-chan was an early morning riser and she probably woke Gumi along with her too. They were probably downstairs, I thought. I walked across the room, slid the door to the side and got out into the hallway. I made my descent down the wooden stairs into the living room.

"Morning, obaa-san." I said sleepily as I entered the living room.

There wasn't any reply, just sheer silence, the room was empty. The curtains were drawn, and the television was switched off. I got out of the room, and back into the corridor. When I turned around, I saw Rin-chan, her hair wet and wearing her uniform. With damp towel in her arms, she turned around and looked at me.

"Ah well, Gumi-chan and Obaa-san went out for a morning walk, they'll be back later for breakfast." She told me.

I rubbed my eyes again. Was I seeing things? I wasn't. Rin-chan was there in front of me, in full school uniform, her blazer, tartan skirt and tie. If I remembered correctly, wasn't today a Saturday?

"But-but isn't today Saturday? Why are you going to school?" I asked, not really registering much of yesterday into my mind.

"My, my. You're too sleepy Len." Rin-chan sighed. "Don't you remember ? We didn't bring any clothes with us here yesterday when we came so of course we'll have to wear our uniforms again, silly."She continued.

"Oh wait… Yeah." I replied.

"Anyway we're leaving after breakfast later so you better get changed right away. They should be back soon." Rin-chan instructed me.

I went back up to Gumi's brother's room, and took a quick shower in the adjacent bathroom, picking up and bringing in all my clothes before I went in. I also locked the doors on both sides, to prevent any embarrassing encounter from repeating itself. After a few minutes in the shower, I got out and dried myself with the same towel Gumi lent me yesterday night. It was still damp from last night, but well, I guess I just had to make do with it. Besides, even if I wanted to ask her for a dry towel, she wasn't even in the house anyway. I put on my used uniform, shirt, blazer and all, even though they were already a bit crumpled and smelled very… well, not pleasant at all I would say. I grabbed some spray-on deodorant from my shoe bag and sprayed some good amount of it on me. Well that should mask the smell of sweat and all… I hope.

After checking if I'd left anything behind, in particularly, Miku-chan's lunchbox, and realizing I had everything, I went downstairs ,all prepared to leave just after breakfast. When I entered the living room, Rin-chan was already there, boiling some water in the kettle. I went over to the dining table, both my bag slumped on the floor, between my feet. It was probably five minutes before the Megpoids finally came back from their morning walk. By this time, Rin-chan had already prepared some tea, filling up all four cups on the table.

"Ah, Rin-chan, you didn't need to!" Gumi-chan said.

"Nevermind, it's okay… Not like it's much work anyway…" Rin-chan replied.

With that, the both of us sat at the table sipping our tea while Gumi went to help her grandmother make breakfast. Soon, all four of us are seated at the table, bowls of steaming rice placed in front of us. The both of us thanked our hosts for the meal, before picking up our chopsticks. It was just a bowl of steaming white rice, freshly scooped out of the rice cooker.

"Ah, I forgot to take the eggs." Gumi said, and got off and rushed to the kitchen.

I watched her as she scrambled to the fridge, wedging the door open, then nearly stumbling to the sink to wash the eggs after slamming the refrigerator door shut. She came back a few seconds later, all eggs washed, and placed on a glass plate, slamming it down in the centre of the table.

"There, here you go." She said, wiping the seat of her brow with her forearm.

"Thanks…" I muttered.

This time, Rin-chan sat at the opposite side of the table, directly facing me, and Gumi was sitting right beside me. I reached out to grab one of the eggs, but instead bumped into something soft and warm. I realised Gumi and I had reached out for the same egg. I pulled my hand back, and told her to take the egg awkwardly, to which she agreed to in the same manner. I grabbed another egg and cracked it open, letting the rich yellow yolk ooze onto my plain rice, before continuing the entire meal in silence.

After finishing our meal, we each placed our utensils and bowls into the sink in the kitchen, Gumi's grandmother saying that she would wash them later on. We got up from our chairs, and went up to check on the bedroom one final time to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. We were about to leave by ourselves, when Gumi's grandmother told us that Gumi would be walking us to the bus stop, since she was on the way to buy some groceries anyway. We decided to wait for Gumi in the yard while she got ready upstairs. The sun wasn't particularly hot, it was one of those lovely days in late spring where it wasn't cold and wasn't too hot, so it felt better to wait outside, the morning sun casting a yellow tint upon the city and the wind blowing gently too. It felt really refreshing, no wonder Gumi-chan and her grandmother went for a walk just now. A few minutes later, Gumi-chan came running out of the house, locking the door behind her. She was wearing a polo shirt and blue denim jeans, and her shoulder-length emerald hair was slightly damp, she must have rushed through her shower and didn't have enough time to dry her hair properly.

"Sorry I'm late!" she exclaimed, as she came up to us.

"Nah, it's fine… I guess we should be sorry for causing you a whole big deal of trouble by sleeping over at your place." I replied.

"Shall we get going then, the bus stop isn't that far. Well you couldn't have seen in the dark yesterday but it isn't that far from here, really." Gumi-chan continued.

We soon started walking across the yard, and Gumi-chan unlocked the gate for us, the three of us sliding through the small opening she's made, before she finally locked it shut. We walked into the street, it was busier compared to last night, cars were rolling about on the roads, and a few women were walking their pet poodles on the pavement. We were halfway there, and the silence so I decided to strike a conversation. Surprisingly, I wasn't shy with Gumi to strike a conversation, since she has quite a striking personality and is rather outgoing, also combined with the fact we always meet each other in school. Most importantly, she didn't make me feel nervous or get butterflies in my stomach like Miku-chan.

"So, Gumi-chan… Why didn't you go get groceries just now? I mean, you were outside already so might as well go get your groceries back then." I said, trying to start a conversation.

"Well, the shop wasn't opened yet, so we went back to have breakfast with you guys first." She replied.

I stole a glance at my watch, she had a point. It was only eight, so most shops had just opened.

"Oh yeah, you guys went out at like six or something." I said needlessly, to which Gumi just nodded, since there was nothing to say already.

We soon reached the bus stop near the main street, but they weren't many people at the bus stop. Besides, it was only eight in the morning on a Saturday. The bus was coming in like a few minutes, so we had to wait a little before it arrived. Gumi said her farewells before leaving us for the grocery store, which she claims was situated about a few blocks away.

Not long after that, the bus pulled over to the bus stop, alighting some passengers while Rin-chan and I boarded. We sat down right at the back, me seating nearer to the window, while Rin sat on the seat nearer to the aisle.

"So, Len-kun, you still haven't told us whose lunchbox it was?" Rin-chan asked me in an invasive and uncomfortable tone.

"I-it's none of your business!" I blurted out, blushing.

To this, Rin-chan just chuckled slightly.


	9. Chapter 9

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming!" I shouted across the living room, grabbing my bag along with me, as I rushed to get to the car, where Rin-chan and Dad were waiting.

When I reached the car, Rin-chan and Dad were already waiting in the car, as per usual. _Why am I always the last one to get ready_, I sighed to myself.

I got in, taking my seat at the back. Rin-chan sat at the front today, so I placed my bag on what was usualy Rin-chan's seat, strapped on my seat belt, while Dad started to cringe the engine, and we drove off, leaving the house behind. Although it was an examination day, and we were told to report to school at nine, Dad still decided to drop us off at the usual time, as he was on his way to work and decided it wouldn't do a little harm for us to report to school at the usual time. The streets were tinted orangey-pink, the rays of sunshine streaming through the glass window as the car drove through the quiet morning streets. The drive was rather boring, usually I would have fallen asleep, but I was too nervous to even shut my eyes or relax. Well, today was the start of mid-terms.

And the first paper just had to be literature. It just _had_ to.

My feet were literally shaking, throughout the entire time of the car ride. I was just really nervous, the previous night, I was wrecking my brain meticulously reading and reading the text analysis worksheet, but nothing actually got into my head. I asked Rin-chan for help, since she totally enjoys reading novels and I've heard from Gumi-chan that her literature was quite good. It didn't make a difference if I asked her or not, since she looked at me that night, confused, apologised, and said that there's no actual method to study for literature, nor any shortcuts, and cramming everything in one night will almost certainly land in failure. What a great start to the mid-terms, I sighed.

Dad dropped us off at school at around seven-thirty, like the norm. He drove off from the gates and went in deeper into Downtown Nagoya. The courtyard was an eerie silent wasteland, the two of us were like two lonely sheep, separated from the rest of the flock, lost in the vast chilly hills of Hokkaido, with only each other and the howling wind for company. We looked at each other for a moment, but that we both agreed to proceed on with our normal school morning ritual, heading towards the lockers, then up to our classrooms, but I didn't expect the classrooms to be open, since I thought we were still early.

I went up to my locker, and placed my shiny black-and-lime green track shoes in there, newly washed over the weekend. Even though I didn't have any training for the entire week while the examinations commence, I just decided to place them in my locker since I didn't want to be lugging them around from home every single day whenever there's training. I'm guessing there would be some sort of training regimen during the summer holidays, so I guess it would be better to leave my shoes in the locker, it'll be more convenient.

Rin-chan bided me to go upstairs to the classrooms with her, but I told her the classrooms would be locked, to which she just shook her head in disbelief. I sighed, and I was forced to follow her up the stairs to the first-year classrooms. I felt it would be such a waste of energy to walk up the stairs, only to come back down again when we found the classrooms to be locked, as I suspected. We reached the eerily silent third floor corridor, walking down past the dark science laboratories, dimly lit by the rays of sunshine that managed to stream through the thick glass windows, void of any sign of activity. The sun was already high in the sky, since it was already early summer, and a light wind blew. The quiet, empty school seems out of place smack in the middle of a busy suburb. Like a white elephant within a flock of black sheep, out of place by that much.

We stopped walking when we reached Rin-chan's classroom, and she grabbed the handle of the door. I was just about to open my mouth that we've wasted all our energy climbing up all those stairs only to be going down again, when the door opened with no difficulty at all. Seeing my bewildered expression, Rin-chan gave me a tight smirk, muttering under her breath, "silly, silly."

Rin-chan sat at her desk, and I sat on the desk in front of her. I sat backwards, resting my arms on the backrest. We sat there in silence for a few moments, but it wasn't long before Rin-chan took out her handphone to escape from boredom. Or you could say, awkward silences. I lost interest in her and looked around the room. It was almost exactly like mine, the desk arrangements all in exam-ready position, spaced apart from each other, so no student is at liberty to plagiarise and copy other exam candidates' answers. The room's notice boards have been stripped of all papers and notices, such was the ritual just before examinations take place. The floor was swept clean, not a single speck of litter or piece of torn paper was to be seen. Since I decided there weren't anything to be doing in Rin-chan's classroom, I guess I should go to my classroom then. I said goodbye to Rin-chan and wished her luck, to which she just nodded, her eyes still glued on her phone screen. I pushed open the door and left, walking down the probably two dozen steps down the corridor to my classroom, which was separated from Rin-chan's with yet another empty classroom.

I pushed the front door and it opened with a slow creak, it was as silent and empty as Rin-chan's classroom, as I expected. Seeing nothing else to do, I went up to my seat, placed my bag down, and stared onto the empty, reflective whiteboard. After a while, it got a little bit uncomfortable for my eyes, since the whiteboard was glaring and all, so I decided to look down for a while. I checked my watch on my left wrist, I had about an hour before nine. I took out my Literature file, flipped it open, and began reading worksheet after worksheet, still telling myself that I can do it, if I just try really hard. Well, I've been trying my best to keep up with the literature syllabus but I guess it just wasn't my forte, no matter how you look at it. I sighed, but just decided to read and read and cram every single fact or method to Literature. It had to work somehow.

Just five minutes into my intense, brain wrecking study of my Literature file, after countless times of clicking my pen, tapping them against the table occasionally, the door slowly opened. I looked at the time, it was only eight o' five, still a long way to go. I lifted my gaze to the door of my classroom, maybe it was Rin-chan, asking to borrow something, or just to check on me. Perhaps even Gumi-chan, but it wasn't a common occurrence for her to arrive in school really early, she'll arrive just minutes before the required timing. But no, the one standing at the door, looking at me with clear aqua eyes were Miku-chan.

I was rather taken aback, to be honest, she was the last person I expected to be at the door. She was dressed in the summer uniform, since it was getting warmer. The short-sleeved white blouse, red tie, and tartan skirt really looked different on her, since I was so used to seeing her in the long-sleeved crimson blazers we've been using for the past few weeks. We were allowed to wear our summer uniforms starting from this week, so Rin-chan and I had it on too. Except, that obviously, mine was different from theirs, it was a white short-sleeved shirt, red tie and long pants. I just didn't know what to say, as if seeing Miku-chan materialising suddenly out of thin air right in front of me.

"Morning, Kagamine-kun." Miku-chan said.

"Ah, morning, Miku-chan!" I said awkwardly, scratching the back of my head with my left hand.

I stood up from my desk, I don't know why, I guess it was just an unexplainable reaction, or maybe it was a forgotten habit lost somewhere deep in the far reaches of my brain that somehow decided to show up again. After all, old habits die hard.

I saw her, all cheerful and smiling, slowly walking up to me across the classroom, slipping through between rows of uniform desks, all lined up like the Terracotta Soldiers in formation.

"Ah, Kagamine-kun, I didn't expect to find you here! What a surprise, I thought I was the only one who came so early." She said, making small talk.

"Ah yeah, well… My father dropped the both of us at the normal time since he had to go to work and stuff." I said, nervously.

"Oh well, there's great at least." Miku-chan said casualy. "Anyway Kagamine-kun, I have something for you, it isn't much, but I really hope you like it, and all the best for mid-terms!" She continued.

Miku-chan fumbled around in her sling bag, pulled out a plastic bag, and reached inside. She looked down at the plastic bag, then looked at me again. She then held the plastic bag out to me.

"Here Len-kun, pick whichever flavour you like." She said, sounding as bright and cheery as ever, her teal ponytails swaying slightly as she tilted her head ever so minutely.

I leaned over my table, my two hands placed on the table, elbows locked as I peered into the white plastic bag that Miku-chan held in her hands. The bag was full of Kit Kats, of assorted flavours, from strawberry to green tea, blueberry and wasabi, and not forgetting to mention the original milk chocolate flavour. I couldn't decide what to take, and I felt bad for making Miku-chan keeping her hand outstretched with the plastic bag while I took forever to choose just one Kit Kat, so I just plunged my hand into the bag and grabbed the first bar of Kit Kat I managed to lay my hands on. I took it out, and read the label. Banana flavoured Kit Kat. Well, that's great enough, not like I'm really fussy about what flavour of chocolate I'll get.

Yet it still felt awkward, being alone with Miku-chan in an empty classroom. My heart thumped faster and faster in my chest. My face flushed beetroot. Before I could thank her, Miku-chan suddenly interjected, placing the bag of Kit Kats into her bag, and taking out a piece of paper. From what it looks like, it seems like a form of some sort.

"Ah, Kagamine-kun, I'm sorry I forgot to give this to you last Friday, after training you rushed off for your cram classes and I didn't have the chance to pass this to you." She said, handing over the form to me.

I placed the form face down on my table without even looking at it first. There were more pleasant things to look at that moment. The dry summer wind blew into the classroom from the door, which was left wide open after Miku-chan came in, making her hair sway slightly. Her teal hair shone in the sun's bright morning light. To be honest I left earlier and rushed instantly to class was because I didn't want to see her together with Shion-senpai, it was just too painful. But it was also awkward being alone together like this, even though I liked her and all. I don't know how she would react if she knew the junior she's talking to now actually harbours feelings for her.

Seeing me slightly distracted looking at the floor, due to awkwardness, she suddenly bowed slightly, said farewell and turned around, taking a few steps towards the door, which was still wide open.

"Umm… Thanks for the gift, Miku-chan." I thanked her awkwardly.

"Yeah, it's no problem." She said, stopping in her footsteps.

"But… why did you give it to me?" I interjected suddenly.

I must have seemed like some weird person asking her why she'd gave me a gift, it's not that she liked me or anything, and probably just doing it out of goodwill, to wish me luck for the mid-terms, but I guess it just slipped my tongue thanks to me being so nervous.

"Well…" she said, "I just wanted to give you guys some encouragement for the mid-terms, and it's not just you, it's for all the track members, but I just decided to leave it at your table first since your classroom is the nearest and I didn't expect you to be here anyway, so I was about to write a short note of encouragement or something, I don't know." Miku-chan continued.

"Ah okay… I see." I continued awkwardly.

"If there isn't anything else, I'll be going now okay? Do your best okay?" she said encouragingly. "I heard for the first years it's Literature for today, just calm down and read the questions carefully, you can do it alright? Just like the other day." She continued, and turned to walk out of the classroom.

"W-wait, Miku-chan." I blurted, half stuttering.

She stopped and turned around, looking at me questioningly. I bent down, picked up my haversack in a rush, and quickly pulled out the lunchbox, the one that belonged to her, the one with the leek prints. I dashed up to her and handed her the lunchbox with both hands.

"Oh, thank you so much!" She exclaimed. "I wanted to ask you about my lunchbox but I guess it must have slipped my mind." She continued.

"No, no I'm really sorry, I was the one who accidentally put in my bag and forgot to return it to you." I mumbled.

She looked at me, and giggled slightly, to which I blushed really hard.

"It's okay Len-kun, anyway, I've got to go now, see ya!" she said and hurriedly walked out of the door, but suddenly from the corridor she looked in at me and said "If you ever need anything, you can just message me or give me a call, well, concerning the summer training schedule that is." She added, then disappeared.

_Len-kun, she called me Len-kun,_ it kept replaying in my mind. My heart thumped faster. I was speechless at first, and my cheeks grew red, but then I just told myself she was probably just addressing me with my given name since we've gotten quite familiar with each other, after all, we've known each other for quite a while, but even so, that was rather quick for her to call me by my given name. The theory killed off some of my hope, but it made me happy in the least. Well, I need to stop expecting too much, since she probably doesn't even know I have feelings for her. Besides, she's attached.

I returned to my seat, and looked at the summer training schedule/form again, more carefully this time. There was training on nearly all weekdays, save for Wednesdays, but other than that, the week was jam-packed with trainings. The weekends were free, as usual. It didn't feel like a holiday at all, I still had to wake up early in the morning, get to school and train, then we're going to have a two-hour break for lunch, when the sun's dehydrating heat is at its zenith, before continuing training until four in the afternoon. Well, the prefecturals weren't that far away, so I guess such vigorous training would be necessary, and I hope they would be helpful. I yawned, chucked the paper into my pocket folder, and slipped the entirety of it back into my haversack.

I flipped my Literature file and returned to my somewhat desperate revision. I guess I should have worked harder on this subject, since I know it is my weakest, but well, it was too late for regrets anyway. But somehow, after hearing Miku-chan's words of encouragement, I felt kind of relieved and the task of revising actually felt a little lighter albeit all of the tenseness and nervousness I held within me.

"Okay, pens down." The invigilator said, to which we all complied, all dropping our weary pens down near consecutively, slamming against the table altogether almost at once, sounding like a hailstorm against a roof during a bad winter storm.

The invigilator wasn't a teacher I recognised, she was probably a teacher for another level, or maybe she just teaches another first-year class. I'm not sure though, I don't bother really remembering what teachers look like, except those who teach me, or the really important teachers that we should all know. The rest, the ones that don't teach me and have never interacted with me before, were just people whom you greet when you pass them while walking down the corridor, or pass up your homework to when the teacher in charge of the said lesson is absent for instance. Well at least that's from my point of view.

After making sure all the examination scripts are collected and accounted for, she stacks the pile neatly, tying the entire thing with a rubber band, before placing it into a bag, used solely for containing examination scripts, before being sent for marking. The invigilator walked up to the centre of the classroom, bowed and thanked us, to which we reply in the same, controlled gesture, out of pure manners and cold respect. She left the room quickly, the sound of her heels against the tiled floor resonated through the crisp silence of the classroom. As soon as this happened, the serene silence that seemed to have the entire class possessed fell apart like crumbs of a crumbly cracker when one bites into it. Most of the students dilly-dallied instead of grabbing their bags placed at the front of the class, according to examination regulations, and heading home, choosing instead to discuss with the others on how the paper was. It wasn't really in an orderly manner, I could say. Usually, like back in middle school, I would usually take part in these discussions talking about the paper that had just been collected, about which questions were challenging and which were not, sometimes discovering careless mistakes after cross-checking with friends, sometimes giving a false sense of hope. But after the Literature exam, I don't think I was in the mood to discuss about it. It was just incomprehensible to me, and I knew then I would do badly for that paper, I just knew it.

I pushed in my chair roughly and quickly, the sound of the legs screeching against the floor masked by the chatter of the students in the classroom. I went up to my bag, and picked it up, and that's when I realized my phone was ringing, I could feel the vibrations as I picked up my bag, resonating from one of the bag's smaller and snug compartments, where I've put my phone in earlier, since we weren't allowed to have phones on our person while we take the papers. I quickly unzipped the compartment, and pulled the bulky smartphone from it, barely fitting the tight compartment. I was in such a hurry to answer the phone, I didn't even bother to check who it was. I just slid my finger on the screen to unlock the phone, and put the phone to my ear, supported by my right shoulder, while my two hands were busy fiddling with the straps of my haversack.

"Yeah hello?" I said into the phone, not knowing who I was speaking to.

"Well Len-kun, I'm sorry if I'm disturbing, but how was your exam?" the female voice at the other end said.

It took me a while to recognise who the girl's voice on the other side of the line was, amid all the noise of the classroom. I had to lift the phone away from my ear, and look at the screen to see who it was. Well, I certainly didn't expect it to be Miku-chan. I felt butterflies in my stomach.

"Erm… Hello?" Miku-chan said.

"Y-yeah hi." I said nervously.

"So, um- how did it go?" Miku-chan repeated.

"Well… Not too well I guess." I replied.

"Oh dear, but don't be discouraged okay?" she said, "Well you have another paper tomorrow right? Well you can come to the library to study and ask us any questions if you need help." she continued.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there." I said nervously, without thinking.

Wait who's _us_? But before I could do anything, Miku-chan hung up, I already agreed to go to the library, since she wanted to help, but oh well. I was planning to study at home, but it wouldn't make a difference if I studied at the library, and I could ask Miku-chan for help, plus whoever she was with, but I had the feeling it was Shion-senpai, but well, I wouldn't mind. Besides, I guess it's about time I quit being stupid and going after Miku-chan, being totally out of my league. I should be more realistic and well, maybe study or something. I'm not too sure. But well now I should be more focused on my exams and think about my studies. I guess I'll settle the issue about Miku-chan later then, for now, I guess I'll just wait for things to run its course, not like I'm expecting anything anyway. I sighed, and slowly made my way to the library. Well, I guess that would be my first time going to the school library actually. I sighed, and lugged my bag along to the library.

When I arrived, it was rather half-full with people, mostly at the tables, studying or revising. Well, I was lucky I brought along my Math file so I could actually do some legitimate revision in the library, instead of doing nothing. Also, at least that could help me from getting nervous in Miku-chan's presence, since I would need to concentrate on my work. I walked through row after row of bookshelves looking for them. I didn't really know their exact location, but the library isn't that big, so it wouldn't take long for me to find them.

Miku-chan was seated on a six-seater desk in a corner, three chairs on one side, and three chairs on the other. With her was Shion-senpai, as expected. In front of the both of them were a few books, and sheets of test papers from the previous years. They were seated beside each other, peering into a chemistry textbook placed in front of them, wide open. The second years' paper for tomorrow must be chemistry I guess. The couple were deep in discussion, and didn't realise my presence.

"Um… Hi." I said, breaking the silence and sea of whispered discussions.

"Oh, Kagamine-kun, hi." Shion-senpai greeted me.

"May I-" I asked awkwardly.

"Yeah sure, go ahead." The blue-haired senior replied, clearing the table slightly.

Well, only the section opposite his, since Miku-chan's side was actually rather neat, the books stacked and placed at the edge of the table, against the wall. I went up to the chair opposite Shion-senpai, pulled it out, and sat, placing my bag on the floor. I took out my math file and placed it in front of me, flipping a few pockets full of worksheets.

"Kagamine-kun is there anything you need help for?" Miku-chan asked.

"Yeah, quite a few." I said, handing the both of them an algebra worksheet, with a few of the questions circled in red ink.

"Ah… Math." Miku-chan remarked, and pushed the paper away silently towards her boyfriend.

"Sorry, but that's not my forte…" Miku-chan apologised, "But I'll try to help you with whatever I can." She continued, smiling sweetly.

"Umm… Thanks." I muttered nervously.

They pondered at it for a while, Shion-senpai attempting to explain all the questions, with Miku-chan just giving helpful, but sometimes irrelevant advice. Well turns out Shion-senpai was quite good in math, and I'm glad I kind of came to the library and sought their help. At least now I managed to get some of the more difficult concepts in my head, but well, now I'm more worried about being able to remember them for tomorrow's test. Maybe I should have written what Shion-senpai explained to me instead of just listening, no matter how close I paid attention, I find it more effective if I had references to read, especially to refresh on what I've learnt. He finished explaining everything pretty quickly, so I still had plenty of time left, and there wasn't anything for me to do now at home other than to study, so I decided to stick around and browse through the previous years' exam papers and tried out some questions, while Miku-chan and Shion-senpai resumed with their chemistry revision. Soon I got stuck on another of the harder questions and asked Shion-senpai to explain it to me.

"Kagamine-kun, do you need any notes? I can photocopy some of mine for you." He said, after finishing going through the question which I found difficult.

"Sure, thanks." I said.

_Why didn't you tell me that earlier_, I thought to myself, but oh well.

"I'll be back." He said, but apparently he was addressing Miku-chan, who nodded slightly looking at him, before returning to her chemistry worksheets and stacks of books, apparently for that brief moment in time, I didn't exist.

Probably that was how it felt being a couple, everyone else didn't exist, since the only person that matters is the partner.

Shion-senpai, pushed his chair in quitely, lifting it instead of dragging it, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, since the floor was carpeted. He must have developed that behaviour of lifting up chairs instead of dragging them out of habit, I suppose. He then looked through his file and took out a stack of paper, bound together with a staple. With that, he disappeared behind the tightly packed bookshelves, in the direction of the photocopying room. So there we were Miku-chan and I, sitting on the same table. Again, it seems like I'm the only one feeling awkward, well, what did I expect?

Miku-chan was flipping the pages of her chemistry textbook, with that graceful yet serious expression drawn on her face, indicating she was deep in thought, pondering over the chemical formulae. Her hair was blown gently by the air conditioning vent directly above her head, sometimes making streaks of silky teal hair to get into her face, forcing her to push them away, but still trying her best to concentrate on her revision. My heart beat faster in my chest, I couldn't help it. I didn't know why, but I was probably looking at her, no, _admiring _her for the next full minute or so, I wasn't sure to be honest, I lost track of the time for that brief moment. It felt like forever. She looked up, and I quickly snapped out of it, and looked down at my file, pretending I was reading my math file. Gosh, what's wrong with me, I must have made her feel uncomfortable! I blushed heavily.

"Uhh… Len-kun… Do you need something?" she asked, undoubtedly feeling uncomfortable, by the tone of her voice.

"Uhh-" I choked, blushing. "I- I- Erm… I'm sorry!" was all that I managed to blurt out, my face beetroot.

I quickly looked down on my file, my heart racing, I saw in the corner of my eye Miku-chan looking at me for a while, but then she just shrugged her shoulders and continued on her work. I tried my hardest to concentrate on my work but I just couldn't, I was too nervous, my legs were actually shaking slightly.

All of a sudden, Miku-chan shifted into Shion-senpai's seat, ending up seating right opposite me.I blushe heavily, and my legs grew stiff, I was that nervous. I guess she saw me getting all nervous and tried to reassure me.

"Ah, it's just cold over there." She remarked, but I could still sense some nervousness in her voice.

Well of course she would be a bit creeped out, what would you do if some guy kept staring at you for minutes?

Then, I heard footsteps behind me coming from behind the bookshelf. I turned around.

"Ah, thanks Shion-senpai, sorry for making you go through all that troub-" I cut myself off.

It wasn't Shion-senpai who was standing there, but instead I found myself in front of Rin-chan and Gumi-chan. Okay, what now?

"Uhh Len-kun, do you want to go home now?" Gumi-chan said, smiling.

I was confused, but before I could say anything, Gumi-chan pulled me away, forcing me to grab all my belongings with me and get dragged along with Gumi-chan out of the library. I looked back at Miku-chan, she looked at me confused, but she didn't do anything, and sat there, probably waiting for Shion-senpai to arrive. I was dragged across the library by Gumi-chan, bumping into Shion-senpai along the way, whom I collected the notes from, muttered my thanks and pulled out of the glass door, all in a matter of a few seconds.

As soon as I was out of the library, I yanked my hand free of Gumi's grasp. Rather violently I suppose, she looked shocked as if she didn't expect it.

"Hey!" I yelled, to which the both of them looked at me with surprise. "Why did you do that huh?" I demanded.

"Well… You look like you needed help to get out of it." Gumi-chan said nonchalantly.

"At least be grateful we helped you get out of such an intensely awkward situation." Rin-chan added in.

"Ugh…" I groaned. "You mean you were watching me !?" I asked.

"Well it wasn't intentional we just happened to walk past…" Gumi explained, but I wasn't really paying attention, my mind was in a flurry of thoughts.

"Now she'll think I'm really, really weird!" I thought out loud.

Big mistake.

"Why would you care what she thinks of you?" Rin-chan asked, but then she looked at Gumi-chan and I thought I saw the slightest hint of a sparkle in her eyes.

I blushed heavily, and I was too pissed for teasing.

"You know what, I'm going home." I said, and marched off ahead of them, down the stairwell, heading out to the first floor.

The streets were rather busy, since it was lunchtime, cars rolled up and down the street, and buses alighted passengers and picked up crowds who filled the bus stops. I was rather pissed and angry, so I decided to walk home. Gumi-chan and Rin-chan were not far behind me, but I didn't bother to wait for them. I wanted to be alone. I sighed, what am I going to do now? Now I'm just going to be seen as some weirdo in Miku-chan's eyes. This is bad. But then I calmed down and told myself there was nothing to be worried about, since she was already attached and it wouldn't matter what she thinks of me.

I was walking ahead for quite a while, until I was stopped by a red man at one of the pedestrian crossings. Gumi-chan and Rin-chan caught up to me while I was waiting at the crossing, but luckily I had already cooled down enough to talk.

"Hey um- Sorry Len-kun." Gumi-chan said.

"Yeah me too." Rin-chan added.

"It's okay… I'm sorry too for shouting at you guys earlier." I apologised. "Should have controlled myself." I continued.

"Nah, it's nothing at all." Gumi-chan replied.

The red men turned into green, and we crossed the road, the vehicles having stopped on both sides, allowing us to pass. The three of us walked side by side, Rin-chan and I on either flanks and Gumi-chan wedged in between us.

"Hey Len-kun." Rin-chan called out to me from behind Gumi-chan.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Do- do you… like Miku-chan?" she asked.

I fell silent. Well, I was expecting this, after the slip earlier. I just looked at the pavement, observing some of the cracks passing between my stride, but well, I still hesitated before replying.

"Yeah… I guess so." I mumbled.

"Are you serious Len-kun?" Gumi-chan remarked in disbelief.

"Yeah… I think that might be the case, unfortunately." I said, sighing.

"Why?" Gumi-chan asked. "She seems like a nice person, sorry for watching you guys the entire time, but not entirely actually, we were only there for five minutes and- Sorry." She continued.

"Nah, that's not the problem." I said slowly.

"Then what is it?" she asked.

"Well, you see… Miku-chan has a boyfriend. And I know it's none of my business to get jealous over them having a relationship and all but… I just can't help it." I said. "I'm falling for someone that would never be mine." I continued, and the wind blew, blowing my fringe into my face.

Gumi-chan hesitated for a while, before continuing.

"You won't know right? If you're serious about it then you shouldn't give up." She said.

"But what should I do now?" I asked.

"Well maybe you should just tell her how you feel about her and get it out. Well, just to let it out you know? I guess a nice person like her would understand." Gumi-chan said, trying to reassure me.

"I'm not too sure about that." I replied.

She fell silent, and the three of us kept on walking. We walked past rows of houses and shops, and took a shortcut through the traditional garden, the one with the pond which Gumi-chan and I were splashing about on the first day. The garden was the same as the other day, except now there were more people passing through, some old people witting on the benches while small children and their mothers are just strolling about. I guess it was bustling with more activity since it was lunch hour and not to mention it's already summer. Even the pond seems to be bustling with more life too, there were certainly more fish swimming about, probably because the water's warmer now. Another major difference, and the most significant, was the fact that the cherry trees were already covered in lush, green foliage. The blossoms were gone now, spring was long over. Gumi pointed to the pavilion on the pond's edge, said that she was tired and wanted a rest, so the three of us went there and sat together at a four-seater table. We were the only people there other than the two elderly men playing chess on the other table available there. Gumi-chan turned around, facing the pond, the trees, and the buildings, although slightly hidden by the canopies of the trees and leafy green foliage.

"Well, you know Len-kun, I once liked someone in middle school, I told myself I wouldn't give up, and he would return my feelings, so one day I confessed to him and he rejected me." Gumi-chan said with a laugh. "But you know, it's better to tell that person how you feel about them, and ask for their reply, since even if you're sure it would be a rejection, at least you'll get some sort of closure. I mean, if you keep restraining yourself to having just a secret crush and not telling the person you like how you feel about them, you won't know whether you'll be rejected or not, but the important thing is, you let it all out, and get a closure, so even if you get rejected, you'll still be able to move on since you know you've already tried, but well, maybe the both of you might just not meant to be?" she added.

"Yeah… I guess so. Maybe I'll tell her when I'm ready." I said. "I already told myself I'll settle the issue with Miku-chan after the mid-terms,since they're more important. Besides, I have the entirety of summer for it. Anyway, now isn't the right timing either, since she might think me to be some creepy weirdo and confessing to her would just make it worse, escalating my worries." I replied.

"Thanks for the advice though, I'll sure confess to Miku-chan when I think I'm ready." I added again.

"You're welcome," Gumi-chan replied.

"Talking about mid-terms, we really should be studying for our math tomorrow." Rin-chan budged in.

"Yeah… Do you know any good places to study Len-kun? Well I'm hungry too so maybe we could have lunch as well?" Gumi-chan said.

"Well I do know a place opposite Kanayama Station…" I said.

"Fine, let's go there!" Gumi-chan said, and we walked out of the pavillion, into the park, making our way to the bus stop.

We walked out of the park, reaching the bus stop in a few short minutes. We boarded the bus to Kanayama,intending to study for Math the next day, in the café that Miku-chan and I went together not too long ago. We finally had somewhere else to study other than home, but more importantly is that finally, I know what to do.

But probably after mid-terms of course!


End file.
